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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




X. 



Conservation Resources 
Lig-Free® Type I 
Ph 8.5, Buffered 



F 549 
.H56 
H47 
Copy 1 



D TIMES 
IN HERRIN 



^ ^ .t^ ^ 



SELECTED ARTICLES THAT 
APPEARED IN THE FIRST 
ANNUAL NUMBER OF THE 
WANDERERS EDITION OF 
THE HERRIN NEWS OF HER- 
RIN, ILLINOIS i^ J^ i^ J^ 



1 9 2 



COMPLIMENTS OF 

HAL W. TROVILLION 

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER 



FOREWORD 

/^LD TIMES IN HERRIN were vividly 
recalled in the first annual number 
of The Herrin News published in the 
spring of 1922. The edition was hastily 
exhausted and so many calls have since 
come in for a copy of this number that we 
have been led to reproduce here some of 
the longer articles appearing in that in- 
teresting edition. Crude as conditions 
were at that time, the pioneers in the de- 
veloping of what now has become the 
greatest commercial city of Egypt these 
contributions will be of value as well as 
of interest. They may sometime contrib- 
ute important information to the student 
of history of this industrial community in 
the years to come if the cheap and tem- 
porary form to which they have been en- 
trusted survives the years. 

Hal W. Trovillion 
;une '22. herrjn, illinois 



L 



L 



3 -^-Y<f 



i,{i 



W^'^ 



FARM PRODUCTS WERE 
SOLD WIIHOdT ASKING 
JMARKET PRICE 

By FRANK YORK 

In August, 18i)'J, while driving 
from Grassy Precinct to Crab Orchard 
(old Stealezy) 1 stopped at Buckb.oni 
and for the first time met Lincle Epli 
Herrin in a little frame building 
where Zwick's Men's Furnishing Store 
is now located. He haJ just platted 
his first or second addition to Herrin 
and I fell for his splendid, eary-to- 
get-acquainted disposition and parted 
company with $100.00 for two of his 
lots, which are known now as the 
John Marlow place. In Ji-ebruary, 
1'jOO, I commenced to erect a small 
dwelling on one of the lots and in 
March I moved to Herrin and saw 
something of its infancy. When I 
built there was one house or. North 
14th street that was farther out than 
mine. Mine No. 7 was working about 
60 men and Mine A began to sink its 
shaft early in the spring. I \ ent to 
work as a cari-cnt3r and in May 
changed from that to v.-ork in a brick 
yard for Sam Green. The Yard mane 
enough bricks (or ffbbies) to erect 
the HeiTin Supply Company store. 
In June I went to work for the Hei- 
rin Supply Company and stayed with 
tiiem practically all the time to 1920. 

Now, as a clerk in the town's big- 
gest store I rememter the customer.** 
more distinctly than anything else. R 
was their habit to come to town on 
Saturday aftemoon, bring their 
chickens, eggs and butter to market. 
They never asked what vou were al- 



< 



lowing them for their product; Just 
carried them and spilled them on the 
floor. Then the men folks hiked for 
Bart's or Ragland's or some other 
thirst parlo^ while the women did 
their shopping. After which they ate 
roasted peanuts and visited one an- 
other in the store. These were farm- 
ers living north and east of town and 
fine people too. 

I remember in Herrin's first few- 
years where there was a fire nearly 
every night, about 2 a. m. (nearly al- 
ways pulled off on time). Then B. 
Bolinger would pull the whistle on the 
Light Plant and every body would 
"shoot her empty," then go to the fire. 
Then the saloons would light lamps 
and stay open the balance of the 
night 

I have a photo which was taken 
during a demonstration which shows 
Park avenue jammed with people and 
not an auto in the picture but very 
plainly in the secene is Dr. Curtis 
Brown in a buggy. The demonstra- 
tion was on Park avenue in front of 
the Herrin Supply Company and num- 
bers were drawn for the winner of a 
stove and Mrs. Vadie Music got the 
stove. 

Then comes the greatest yet. Chas, 
Saylor — in a gasoline buggy — rubber 
tires up and do\vn the streets twice a 
day. How we all did crave to ride 
with him! And all this time Herrin 
was getting bigger. I remember one 
incident as to traffic, I went to St. 
Louis on an excursion and we caught 
the excursion train at Carbondale, 
and when we got back to Carbondale 
we had to get to Herrin on the "Night 
Owl," -which was a one coach contriv- 
ance that was supposed to be propell- 
ed by oil (but wasn't) and wouldn't 



— 9— 

so. We got to Crab Orchard and 
stayed there from 11 o'clock until ."> 
ill the morning, then were shoved In 
hy an engine. 

Then Manuel broke tiie record 1)\ 
buying a real car — an old Cadillac. 
Kveryhody held their horses and cuss- 
ed. Then we elected Dave Wilkerson 
for mayor and "Dutch" McMeil for 
chief of police, dug a deep well and 
spent lots of money that did not get 
anything but Herrin kept on growin;r. 

H. 0. FowTer gave^ up his job on 
the section for a job in Herrin Supply 
store and made good. G. J. Turner 
left the farm, came to Herrin ami 
has made good. And lots of others 
that you could speak of have contri- 
buted to make Herrin the Magic City 
of Illinois. If I should ever come 
north again I would come to Herrin, 
111. I am always proud to hear of 
the activities of the Herrin people. 
Am glad to hear that they get to- 
gether and do things; glad to know- 
that the moneyed men are getting 
behind such as the electric interurban 
that will make Herrin come to the 
front faster than the development of 
coal did. 
347 N. E. 36, Miami, Fla. 



WORKED AS mm 

ON SHE OF HERRIN 



B> «.rORf;E BLAIR 

HeiTin was originally a field and 
I have helped to harvest and thra=;h 
the grain on almost every acre. The 
first building was the Illinois Central 
Depot; then Jim Connor's store on 



—mo- 
tile north side. D. R. Harrison had 
a store on the south side. The First 
National Bank was oi'ganized by Har- 
rison on its present site. Henry Wil- 
son had a saw mill with two shanties. 
One is still standing. 

When the mines opened the houses 
were built rapidly. From that time 
on Herrm became the trading center 
for all the people in every direction 
for miles around. It was then organ- 
ized as a village with a village board 
and <i newspaper called The Herrin 
J^ews. Like the village the News Avas 
i. very small affair to begin with; 
everything done by hand press; but 
after the present owner and manager 
of the paper came and purchased the 
outfit 1 made arrangements with a 
iriichine shop at Fordville to sell 
hem a gasoline engine for power. 
The Herrin News, with an efficient 
manager began to grow until it has 
become the leading newspaper of 
southern Illinois. 

We are very proud of our city now 
with its stores, lumber yards, garages 
meat markets, show houses, hotels, 
restaurants, confectioneries, soda- 
water factory known as the Herrin 
Bottling W^orks, city hall and fire de- 
partment, side walks and the best of 
pavings, but nothing is too good for 
Herrin. We old-timers could go tell- 
ing about Herrin and its remarkable 
g-iowth and its good qualities as a city 
and its people who are "real folks" 
that are working together for a larg- 
er and cleaner city, who are not afraid 
to spend both time and money to 
make it such. 

My home is in Hen'in. While I 
am not there at the present, I am; 
interested in the betterment of our 



—11— 

city and its pro^'ress. I am at the 
present in the Civil Senice, engaged 
as housefather at the Soldiers 
Orphans' Home, Noi-mal, Illinois. 



CBEEK USE TO HAVE 
JOKE ON BEANBLOSSOM 

Hy M. L. BEANBLOSSOM 

(Fnrnior Principal of Herrin High 
School) 
i niatle my advent into the city of 
Herj-in in August, 190G. This mark- 
tMl the beginning of my first reign iix 
the Herrin High School which at that 
time was housed in a frame building 
on the southisde and had an enroll- 
ment of about 50 pupils. In this 
connection I shall always remember 
Mr. F. W. Applegath who was then 
president of the| school board and 
who in my opinion, largely because 
of his kindly interest in the schools, 
was one of the best board member.s 
I have ever known. 

Herrin at this pioneer day, had only 
a few blocks of concrete sidewalks, 
i'ut many miles of narrow board walks 
This very situation, by the way, was 
one of the things that helped to ruin 
my reputation in those early days. 
John Creek says that the reason I 
never went with the same girl twice 
was because I would step on the end 
of one of those boards and trip the 
fair ones. John ought to know for 
he profited by my mistakes and mar- 
ried a Herrin girl. 

When I returne<I to Herrin in 1917 
for the second administration, the 
town was nat as woolly as formerly 
but still somewhat wild. About this 



—12— 

time the saloon and all its attendant 
evils was enjoying an era of prosper- 
ity. Hierrin now had an "off and 
on" system of lighting with water 
mains and a sewer system. By June 
1, 1921, the high school had grown 
under the township organization to an 
enrollment of nearly 400, with a large 
and well equipped plant and a faculty 
of 16 teachers. It had been recog- 
nized by the State University, was 
a member of the North Central As- 
sociation and was considered by school 
critics as one of the best of the small- 
er high schools of the state. In 
atheltics, the high school developed a 
championship basketball team and 
was the first high schol south of Mt. 
Vernon to entertain a basketball 
tournament. 

Reference to my present where- 
abouts, I am now superintendent of 
the Township High School in the Oil 
City on the banks of the Ambraw and 
find everything running very smooth- 
ly. 
Lawrenceville, 111. 



WHAT TALES SOK 
OLD HERRIN OlS 



By GEORGE McARTOR 

The writer had resided in Heriin 
23 years on June 14th, last, and look- 
ing back over that stretch of time, 
he notes the many changes that have 
been made in the general looks of the 



—13— 

.1.^, also in the general makeup of 
its citizenship. However to enumer- 
ate them all would take up too mucli 
of his time and your space. Conse- 
Muently I will try to describe only 
a few of the landmarks as they recur 
to me and very briefly. 

Twenty-three years ago we had no 
distinction in society here; one knew 
every body else, and all joined in en- 
joying what limited pleasure the city 
afforded. Movies were unthought of 
then, so far as we in Herrin were 
concerned. However, a few years 
later your humble serwint was made 
awai-e that many pictures had been 
made; also he saw his first flying 
woman, as both were presented at 
a tent show that exhibited for a week 
on what is now Cherry street, just 
east of 14th street, and we of Herrin 
then thought we were along in front 
as far as "knowing things" were con- 
cerned. 

I suppose almost every one in Her- 
rin has noticed the large and beauti- 
ful oak trees upon the property of 
E. M. Carnaghi, just north of the 
city hall on Park avenue. Well those 
same trees were there when we first 
came to Henin« but they were then 
out in the country, and of course, 
this was before Mr. Volstead had 
made Herrin a desert. The writer 
along with many other good citizens 
of Herrin would chip in 25 cents per, 
and get our beer at $1.75 per 8-gallon 
keg and retire to the above mention- 
ed trees and pass away our idle time 
in pai-taking of the above mentioned 
joy fhiid and many times singing, 
fighting and other enjoyments, calcu- 
lated to go with such gatherings 
would continue almost all night. 
When discovering that the last keg 



—14— 

was empty, we would bid each other 
a fond good night and separate, each 
going home, with a knowledge in his 
own mind that he had contributed 
greatly to the enjoyment of others — 
and we really enjoyed it, and I for 
one earnestly wish that Mr, Volstead 
had never seen Washington. 

Twenty-three years ago Herrin was 
small as compared with its present 
size. The limit of buildings north on 
Park avenue was one half block south 
of the city hall. No homes were then 
east of 14th street and from a little 
south of Maple sti-eet all was in the 
country while the village extended 
west to 17th street. At that time 
there was a board walk around the 
business section, (about a block) 
boards loose at one or both ends, and 
one needed to be duly sober to negoti- 
ate them. No brick buildings at all. 
A tumble down blacksmith shop was 
on the present site of the European 
Hotel. Where now stands the Jeffer- 
son Hotel, Walker-McNeill building, 
and the block from the State Savings 
Bank west, were vacant, and were at 
one time offered as a present to the 
city by Uncle Eph Herrin. However 
the village dads ordered Mr. Herrin 
to cut the weeds off the property and 
the deal or transfer fell through. 

-There are two wells on this prop- 
erty, one at the northeast corner of 
the Jefferson Hotel and one at the 
northeast corner of the. State Sav- 
ings Bank building, the later being 
18 feet in diameter. There were horse 
troughs at these wells, and there, af- 
ter our work at niight, we would con- 
gregate and there was more coal dug 
there than in all the rest of William- 
son county. At that time (23 years 



—15— 

ag'o) there was but one mine here, 
N'o. 7, which was hoistinj^ at the time 
less than 500 tons per day. 

Many people say that in those days 
Herrin was wild and rough. Howev- 
er, the writer must say thruthfuily 
that he never noticed such being- the 
case. In those days where two men 
had a falling out it was some times 
fought out with fists, some times with 
pistols. There was never much dan- 
ger to either of the pai-ticipants with 
pistols as their aim was usually bad, 
the pistols worse and it was a 10 to 
1 bet that some bystander would get 
shot, thus settling the dispute. At 
other times differences were settled 
with knives, at which times the by- 
standers suffered less, and the parti- 
ripants of course worse. 

Herrin has certainly changed in 
twenty-three years and in every res- 
pect. Prices have advanced in pro- 
portion to its growth in size, and it 
would, in my opinion, be yet just 
about as good a place as it was then 
had the women never been allowed a 
vote and Congi-ess looked after things 



—16— 

BARBEilING AS DONE 
IN mARLY DAYS 

By GEORGE D. JOHNSTON 

I was asked to write an article 
about the barber business as I have 
seen it for tiie past seventeen years. 
I am the oldest barber, in point of 
sei"vice, in Herrin except John A. 
Miller, who is with the Jones & Hud- 
speth shop. 

When I came here in 1905 Dave 
Wilkerson owned a three chair shop, 
where the south half of Zwick's store 
is today. John Miller and William 
Snyder owTied a three chair shop in 
the Paul Herrin building, now the 
Jefferson Hotel. R. F. Hill owned a 
two chair shop in the European 
Hotel, where the cafe is now. Mr. 
Yeagel had a one chair shop on the 
south side of town. 

I bought the shop from Mr. Wilk- 
erson after he was defeated for re- 
election for mayor of Hen-in by John 
Herrin. After selling out here Wilk- 
erson went to DuQuoin, and from 
there to Perfy, Okla., where he still 
resides. The Calhoun Barber shop is 
the oldest established shop in Herrin. 

Back in those days the barber busi- 
ness was good in one way: Lots of 
work but not much money. We open- 
ed up at seven o'clock and closed at 
eight p. m., on week days, and closed 
at twelve o'clock Saturday nights. 
Shaves were ten cents and hair cuts 
twenty-five cents. Today we open at 
eight o'clock a. m. and close 
six o'clock p. m.; Saturdays open at 
eight and close at eight p. m. Shaves 
are now twenty-five cents; hair cuts 



—17- 



are fifty cents. During the days of 
cheap prices the customer did not get 
much for his money. We did not 
have Uie State Barber Law then re- 
quiring hot water and everytlxing sani 
tary and so the customer got clieap 
work for his clieap price. Today we 
have all modern conveniences. In the 
early days of HeiTin we did not have 
city waterworks so we had to make 
our own waterworks. Wo did that by 
putting a barrel up in one corner of 
the room and piping it to our wasli- 
stands, as we did not have porters 
then. The boss was poi-ter and every 
morning you could see him, with liis 
buckets carrying water filling his bai-- 
rel so as to have his water for the 
day's work. 

During those old days of long hours 
and cheap prices the barber worked 
hard all day on Saturdays. Just ask 
that barber what he made. He will 
hang his head and will say, "I am 
aohamed to tell you." But today he 
is justly proud of his business and 
is recognized as a good business man 
of HeiTin. 

Back in the old days of Henin a 
man's business was judged by the 
number of mugs he had in his mug 
case. If a barber quit a job or was 
fired and he went to work in another 
shop he would boast of how many 
mugs he could take from you. The 
barbels of Herrin, as well as they 
(hd every where else, began to do 
away with the customers' mugs. We 
<lid that by only using them when 
H-sked to. Joe M. Bond, as far as I 
can find out, was the last one 4j) de- 
mand that v.e should use his mug, 
;ind will say that this is the first 
time that I have had a chance to tell 



—18— 

him about it M'heve it would have the 
desired effect. 

Today we have about fourteen 
shops, working in all about 36 bar- 
bers. The bai'bers of Herrin are all 
good friends and we have no trouble 
enforcing our rules. 

I think the old settlers' edition of 
The Herrin News will be very interest 
ing to everybody who lives in Herrin 
but especially to the people that have 
left here as I presume all of them 
take The Herrin News. 



OOING POST CEiilE 
WORK AT OLD MIM 



By DR. C. M. EVANS 

(Formerly physician at Cliffoi'd) 
Your invitation to join the Herrin 
Reunion finds me together with my 
family living in Boston, Mass. the 
Hub City, 1400 miles away from Her- 
rin. I am most thoroughly enjoying 
my post gi'aduate work at Harvard 
University Medical Department. 
Harvard certaiftly lives up to its repu- 
tation. I have heard it said that Har- 
vard is a place for rich men to send 
their boys. If that is the case, it is 
sure pretty severe punishment for 
them, the way they work them. 

My youngsters are settled in the 
public schools of Boston, and it is 
with pleasure that we watch ^the boys 
and girl enjoy the winter sports on 
Boston Commons, very much the same 
as did the youngsters of several gen- 
erations ago, during" the days of Com- 
wallis, when the British soldiers 



—ID- 
knocked down the snow men built by 
the young Americans. It affords us 
much pleasure to sojourn in this city, 
so replete with historic happeninj^s of 
Revolutionary Days. Bunker Hill 
Monument looms in the distance 
across the Charles River. And theie 
is Old North Church from whose bel- 
fry tower the signal was flashed to 
Paul Revere that "the British march 
by sea tonight." Then, there is old 
Fanueil Hall, the Cradle of Liberty; 
Lexington and Concord not far away, 
and many other places of note and 
interest to us who are heirs of the 
Declaration of Independence. 

We find there are no residences, no 
cottages, no flats in Boston proper. 
It is a city of hotels and apartments 
of which there are many. We avo 
loca^ted in an apartment, f'nd our 
latch string hangs out to Jill our 
friends of Herrin and vicinity. 

As in memory I go 1:)ack to the first 
time I saw Herrin, ten years ago. 
I recall that there were just three 
automobiles in all Herrin. Coming 
from northern Illinois I brought my 
automobile with me, which proved 
to be the only one at the mining camp 
of Clifford. A very brief acquaint- 
ance with Egyptian mud holes soon 
made it clear to me that a car was 
a poor mode of locomotion in that 
country at that time. From what T 
read in the Herrin papers, I have 
reason to believe that the next time 
T see Herrin, it will be with many 
improvements within itself and vicin- 
ity in the way of roads and otherwise, 
owing to the enterprise of the business; 
men of Herrin. 
29 Queensberry St., Boston, Mass. 



—20— 



IS OFTEN 
jyHED 10 Bt 



By PERCY B. SMITH 

Away back when I first landed in 
Hevrin, more than twenty years ago, 
as a stranger, I bought stamps on 
credit, as the postmaster, Alex Stot- 
lar, did not have change for a five 
dollar bill. Herrin, or Euckhorn, as 
commonly called, had then, as now a 
worse reputation abroad than it de 
served. The two or three mines were 
running every day and money was 
plentiful as the miners were industri- 
ous. Cheap frame houses, many of 
them with Robert White landscapes 
on the gables were arising as if by 
magic. 

From the very first it was a com- 
munity of home lovers. As soon as 
a house could be provided a man 
would bring his family whether from 
Carterville or Cuggonio. Next to the 
inadequate ti'ansportation furnished 
by the railroads, the greatest spi*ag 
in the wheels of Herrin's material and 
moral development was (and is) the 
bad reports current throughout the 
country about the new town. Self- 
righteous citizens of the older towns 
could see only the bad in this melting 
pot and did not want to believe that 
any good thing could come out of a 
town in "Bloody Williamson," whose 
single industry was coal mining. 

Paved streets, public libraries and 



—21 — 

a public school system, rated the best 
ill Illinois outside of Chicairo were not 
even hoped for back in the time when 
Uncle Eph Herrin betjged me to buy a 
lot near Park avenue and Monroe 
street for thirty-five dollars. 

Bank in those days it was said that 
the president of one of the local un- 
ions always used a .44 for a travel in 
presidinpT at meeting:s. 

Tnie there were a few f^un-toters 
but forty miles away it was reported 
that we all carried guns. Many pood 
families were kept aw^ay by the exap- 
Kerated reports of crime. Neighbor- 
ing towns liked to keep their good 
coal miners and liked to believe that 
Herrin was not a good place to live 
and raise a family. 

In those days men chewed tobacco 
in churches, not provided with cuspi- 
dors. But there were churches and 
many other organizations for the ele- 
vation of character. As many a 
colickly child has grown into a 
healthy man so has Herrin grown. 

I left Herrin in 1905 but returned 
later and spent some years. Having 
been a close observer of the town since 
its infancy and asked to contribute to 
this Reunion Edition it pleases me 
to say that what success 1 am attain- 
ing in this life is largely due to ex- 
perience gained in the days of Her 
rin's adolescence. 

To my many friends in' Herrin T 
extend my best wishes. 
Chicago, 111. 



Lom IN SI 



By T. N. JACOB 

Civil Engineer, 1900 Railway Ex- 
change Building, St. Louis, Mo. 
I have recently been told that you 
are preparing a 'Home-Coming' Edi- 
tion of your splendid, useful paper, 
The Herrin News. I am very glad to 
know this, but it is just like you and 
the policy of your paper — always ex- 
tending the 'glad hand' to newcomers 
and always having a hearty welcome 
for any of the old timers who return. 
I assure you I would like very much 
to return to Herrin and renew some 
of my old acquaintances — old friends, 
for I had many good frieds there. 
Some, of course, have passed away 
but many remain. . 

I have very fond recollections of " 
my stay in Herrin. When I first 
went there in 1903 Herrin was noth- 
ing much more than a mining camp, 
but developed rapidly into one of the 
important cities of southern Illinois. 
I have not seen many of tlie late im- 
provements. I am told by visitors of 
many handsome buildings, hotels, 
opera houses, banking and office build- 
ings, besides new business houses and 
many fine residences and know that 
Herrin must be a nice place to live 
in now with all the conveniences that 
they have. 

I you have space in your paper I 
would be very glad if you would say 
to my friends that I have not for- 
gotten their many kindnesses and I 



—23— 

will come back the first opportunity 
to receive their jyenerous welcome. I 
have always had a warm place in my 
heart for The Herrin News. It ha."* 
always been a leadine: paper in city 
and state affairs and has been vi»ry 
useful to Herrin and the state. I 
have a distinct recollection, many 
years apfo, when the only extra that 
I remember The Herrin News ever 
put out: that was one Sunday after- 
noon and was issued in defense of 
a printer, who had been mali- 
ciously abused and this 'Extra' was 
put out in his defense. 



—24— 

POPULAR PLACE !N 
EARLY DAYS OF HERRIN 

One of those who early saw the ad- 
vantages of Herrin was Charles 
O'Dell, now in business at Eoyalton 
and prospering. Kandy kitchens 
seem to be his hobby. Among other 
business he is conducting a place 
where the best of sweets may be 
bought. He is running for trustee of 
the prosperous city of Royalton. 

Mr. O'Dell on his arrival in Herrin 
to set up in business pitched a tent 
where the City National Bank now 
stands and there he conducted his first 
kandy kitchen in this city. In a let- 
ter to The Herrin News he says: 

"I was selling candy under a tent 
when the Glad Hand caught fire. All 
the girls came over to my tent. They 
were half dressed. The Early Bird 
was on fire and bottles of the good 
old redeye were brought into the tent 
in big baskets. We all had booze for 
a month. Joe Bond had his share. 
That was before he was city clerk 
and Steckenrider was on the board. , 
Albeit J. Will was just putting up 
the soda factory. There were no mov- 
ing pictures at Herrin then." 

Later on Mr. O'Dell had conducted 
his karjdy kitchen on the present site 
of the city hall and the place is shown 
in the accompanying illustration. "I 
don't know the date the picture was 
taken," Mr. O'Dell says. "It was be- 
fore Wallace's studio was opened. One 
morning there came to the candy kit- 
chen a young man wearing a big 
Kentucky hat. He asked if he might 
put a little lent alongside my kitchen 



—25— 

to take 1 ictures. I told him to go 
ahead as I was an ohl road man my- 
♦•If and would not charge him a cent. 
He went into the kitchen, got a can 
ami went out and bought ten cents 
worth of beer from the Old Club. You 
ought to have seen us drink. Think 
of "t! A dime bought enough for four 
.'f us! Then we had a lunch on brick 
rhcese, summer sausage, pickles and 
Italian oread, all for about 50 cents. 
Now you get pinched if you ask for 
beer. In about foui weeks Mr. Wal- 
lace and I had another feast and all 
of us vho attended were happy." 

Some of those in the pictux-e print- 
ed with this article were: Connam 
Luckey, (with the head of cabbage) 
Mr. O'Dell, (with a bottle of some- 
thing in his hand) Scotty Button, with 
hi>: little dog, and Walter Childres?. 



—26— 



WHEN THE SKY WAS 
THE LID IN HE 



• What times thei'e must have been 
in the old days! These men did not 
fear enforcement officers. They bold- 
ly drank from bottles in broad day- 
light and in plain view of all passers- 
by. It is a safe guess that the bottles 
contained something with more than 
one half of one per cent. Judging 
from the shirt-sleeved men in the pic- 
ture it was iiTthe "good old summer 
time." They may have been working 
very hard and were exceedingly thirs- 
ty. The boldest of the bold, that guy 
at the front, in light suit, who was 
not satisfied- with one bottle at a 
time, but must have two, is said to 
be our well-known townsman, Charles 
Stocks. Charlie was right there 
when it came to getting his'n. It 
evidently required two bottles of Bud- 
weiser, of Pabst or Schlitz to keep 
down- his temperature while he was 
standing in the hot sun, in front of 
the old Turf saloon, to have his mug 
photographed. You may possibly be 
able to identify some others in the 
group. 



SOME EARLY ifiCIOENIl 
RECALLED BY DUNCAN 



M. L. Duncan, a former sheriff of 
Williamson county, now residing In 
Carbondale, in a letter to The Herrln 
News recalls the following incidents 
during the early days when tliis city 
was a small town. 

When the town was a new one and 
somewhat v.ild and woolly, a big re- 
vival meeting was going on. A man 
went to the mourners' bench one night 
and cried out with a loud voice: 
"Lord Cornwallis!" At the close of 
the same meeting the preacher bap- 
tized the wrong man but I have for- 
gotten just how the mistake was made 

It was also at Herrin that Prof. 
Hunter was plowing some vacant lots 
for a neighbor's garden. He lost the 
point on his plow about 8:30 a. m., 
but kept on plowing until noon be- 
fore he realized that the point was 
gone. 

In those days live stock all had the 
run about fTie town, not being con- 
fined. One man found nine cowbells 
in one week and then told a justice 
of the peace who had him arrested 
that he was not a thief. The J. F. 
turned him loose. 

The facts about the celebrated biok 
en leg incident as I now recall them, 
are as follows: A man imbibed a 
little too much of the 100 proof in 
the shade and ran his leg through the 
hind wheel of a fast moving wagon. 
His friends all thought his leg was 
broken and called in the to\\'n's best 



—28— 

doctor and also a specialist from Car- 
terville. Both doctors said the leg 
was broken and set it with splints 
and bandages. Friends of the man 
were told to hire a trained nurse and 
keep the patient in bed six weekr,. 
Jim woke up along toward morning. 
He had sobered and thinking his 
friends had put up a job on him, he 
tore the splints and bandages off, got 
up ami without the aid of a crutch 
walked home. He worked at No. 7 
mine next day. He was a little lame 
for a few days. Jim afterwards told 
me the doctors never presented him 
with a bill. 

My old friend, I. W. Sanders got 
a pension of $1400 on account of his 
father serving in the Civil War. Ike 
said that was too much money to 
try and spend in the country so he 
went to Herrin where they w^ere 
plenty of sports and also several 
charter members of what afterwards 
became the bootleggers' association. 
Ike thought he could play seven up, 
pitch, poker and several other gamee. 
I saw him about six weeks after he 
went to Herrin and asked liim how 
much of his pension' money he had 
left. He said the balance was $15.40. 
He added that his bad luck was noth- 
ing strange as he had played all 
games without a trump card. 



— '2!>— 

EARHY EFFORTS TO 
PROVIOE EDUCATIO AL 
FACILITIES IN HEflflIN 

By P. N. LEWIS 

Iain indeed glad to contribute a 
line to your jubilee edition and to 
know that you are still happy that 
you cast your lot in Herrm. I have 
always felt that I was in Konie meas- 
ure responsible for your coming: to 
Herrin and would be very sorry had 
you not prospered as much as you had 
hoped. 

In 1903 I organized the Herrin State 
Savings Bank and set to work to erect 
a bank building which was completed 
and ready for occupancy July 5, 1904. 
Instead of buying all my initial sup- 
plies from the bank supply concems, 
I gave a very neat little order to the 
local printer— the editor of The News 
at that time — in the expectation that 
he would herald with loud acclaim 
the opening of a new financial insti- 
tution. I expected him to "tell the 
world"' all about it with red ink and 
wooden type three inches high. 

On the morning we opened for bu.sl- 
ness the printer came in with a mar- 
ket basket full of blank notes and 
other printed forms, stationery and 
etc., and collected his bill. On the fol- 
lowing Thursday when The New.«? 
came out about half a dozen lines in 
a single column told in the most per- 
functory manner that the bank was 
opened for business. 

I thought that the editor ought to 
have got all "het up" over the 
"splash" of a new bank in town, and 



—so- 
complained of the lack of journalistic 
pep of the editor. I told Aud Davis, 
who was assisting me for a few weeks 
in opening the bank and getting it 
started, that I wished some live wire 
would come to Herrin and start a 
paper that would wake the little old 
town up. Mr. Davis said he knew a 
cub reporter by the name of Trovi^- 
lion who was out of a job and that 
he would get in touch with him and 
send him around. Some time there- 
after Ml'. Trovillion stepped into the 
bank one morning, handed me his card 
and stated that Mr. Davis had refer- 
red him to me. I told him that he 
couldn't go wrong in undertaking a 
newspaper in Hennn, whereupon he 
dived in and has been in the swim 
ever since. So I repeat that I am 
glad you have prospered so well, if 
my early disappointment in The News 
and my complaint to Mr. Davis was 
realliy in any way responsible for 
your coming to Herrin . 

The Township High School 
Perhaps the fact that I had just 
emerged from the school room where 
I had spent a dozen or so the best 
years of my life, together with my 
earlier struggle to get something 
more than a district school education, 
led me to begin to study the school 
situation as soon as my young wife 
and I were settled to housekeeping 
in Herrin. All the school rooms were 
over crowded. Children were requir- 
ed to attend half day session and im- 
provised school rooms were fitted up 
in the Masonic Hall building, in an 
old hotel just back of the new Elks 
club building and in dwellings down 
North Park avenue. The toilet facil- 
ities were not fit for a hog to use. 
The teachers were overworked and 



—31— 

discipline and organization were well 
night impossible. 

The people of Hen-in can never ade- 
quately thank the school directors who 
grappled with and finally solved all 
the problems that rose in connection 
with those grade schools which out- 
grew the facilities faster than funds 
could be levied to provide more. 

Seeing the boys and girls leaving 
school and engaging in gainful oc- 
rupations at so early an age, it oc- 
curred to me that some effort should 
1)6 made to keep them in school long- 
er. It was plain that very few min- 
ers would ever be able to send their 
children t)ff to college after they had 
completed the grade schools. But 
many of us felt that a coal miner's 
child was entitled to a somewhat bet- 
ter education th?n the grades afford- 
ed and that these advantages should 
be fui-nished right at home. So we 
conceived the idea of a high school 
for Herrin and vicinity, with an at- 
pitch, poker and seevral other games, 
tractive building and grounds, large 
well-equipped class rooms, and a com- 
prehensive course of .study, that would 
attract and hold the .students for four 
years beyond the 8th grade. 

Well, we voted a high school and I 
was elected president of the Board of 
Director."?, but before we got a build- 
ing erected the legality of the High 
School law was attacked by some who 
were opposed to the school, and the 
whole thing was knocked out. 

Undismayed, we went to fhe legis- 
lature and got the law amended and 
voted another High School. Again T 
was elected president of the board, 
bonds were voted, a site selected and 
a contract let for a building. When 
the building was about half completed 



- 3f.— 

the whole thing was again tied up by 
a supreme court decision declaring 
the school law unconstitutional. 

About fifteen good men joined nte 
in signing a note for ten thousand 
dollars with which -we kept work go- 
ing on the building tilF the supreme 
coui't reconvened and reversed the de- 
cision — and our school was assured. 

Thus Herrin has a High School sec- 
ond to none in the state, In which the 
children of the coal miners of Herrin 
may get a college education while at 
home with their parents. Of all the 
activities in which I had any part 
while in Herrin I am more proud of 
the part I had in the securing of the 
Township High School than any other. 
The school speaks for itself. And 
when its friends and foes have alike 
gone to their reward the Herrin Town 
ship High School will endure to brigh- 
ten the lives of thousands of miners' 
children who are as dear to their 
creator as the children of those who 
know not what it is to toil. 

In connection with any mention of 
the Herrin Township High mention 
should always be made of the faith- 
ful work done hf the members of that 
first board o.f directors which as I 
recall included Judge A. D. Morgan, 
M. Collard, L. C. Koen and last but 
not least Bob Hopper. 

Every member of this board was 
as faithful in the work as the mem- 
bers of the grade school board of 
which I have already spoken. 
Marion, 111. 



HERRIN'S FIRST BAND 
K CORKER ACCORDING 
TOJNE MEMBER 

By GEORGE E. PARSONS 

(Former Mayor of Herrin) 
It was a hummer. It was com- 
posed of the best buncli of fellows the 
small village afforded. A very broad 
statement but I think you will agree 
w'h me wher * tcl' you who tiii" 
were. 

It was in the yeai- 1S9S, in the 
month of May that this famous band 
t-ame iiito CAisience. The writer made 
a trip to Chicago and .selected the in- 
struments. It was, I am sure, a good 
move on the part of the band to send 
me to make the selection as I knew 
the difference between a cornet and 
a tuba and also the difference, be- 
tween a base and snare drum. There 
were some minor things that I did 
not know to aid me in making the 
selection but I was very wisely a.s- 
sisted by the firm of Lyon & Healy 
from whom the purchase was mafle. 
The instruments arrived in due time 
and proved to be good selections, much 
to the satisfaction of .the writer. 

It would not be fair to hold you in 
suspense any longer as to who the 
members of this band were, there- 
fore, I will tell you and what instru- 
ments they played. H. W. Henry, 
dereased, was the leader; cornet 
Harry Stotlar, Bruce LaMaster and 
Charles Stocks; tenor, Oscar Bandy, 
Geo. Parsons, Lloyd Parsons; alto. 
Josh Everett, Ed Ralls, Lou Jacobs; 
Itaritone, Gus Sizemoro; tuba, Logan 



-•_34— 

Bandy, base drum, Eli Browning; 
snare drvim, Chester Parsons. 

Eight of these are now living" in Her 
rin, and I dare say that few of» our 
vast population at the present time 
know that there are so many retired 
musicians among them and referring 
to my broad statement at the begin- 
ning of tliis article, don't you think 
1 am right'/ 

Soon after our instruments arrived 
and we began to practice, we decided 
to stage a Fourth of July celebration 
under the auspices of the Herrin Con- 
cert Band. At that time there was 
no ground platted south of Oak street, 
between 18th and 14th streets, or to 
be more explicit, south of the resi- 
dences of Leo Cline and Ira Gosnell. 
Tl.ore was a strip of virgin timber 
just north of the South Side school. 
It was sure enough a virgm wildei- 
ness, so thick with grape vines, bani- 
boo, hazel bush, and other vegetation 
that it takes to make a real thicket. 
However we got permission fx'om the 
owner very willingly to clean tWs 
plot of ground up. 

It was in the month of June that 
the members of the band shouldered 
axes and rakes and proceeded to the 
task. It was very warm weather and 
naturally we had to quench our thirst 
often. This was long before a water 
v^orks system was thought of and the 
water supply in Herrin was very poor, 
It was very hard to find a fountain 
that would suit the taste of all the 
boys but we finally found it, and it 
took one busy carrying the pail as 
it had to be carried from the business 
section of the town and, as I said, 
the weather was very warm. We 
A'orked like putting out fii'e until the 



—35— 

man with the pail arrivecl. Then we 
wouhi stop and (|uench our thirst and 
\>y the time we all took a drink the 
pail was eiwpty and the water boy 
would start on his long tramp for an- 
other pail. Our friend, Bart Colombo 
furnished the ioc free. which was 
greatly appreciated. 

In due time the grounds were clean- 
ed and the Fourth dawned a beautiful 
day. This was the first Independence 
Day celebration Herrin had ever had 
and I want to tell you I have seen 
them all and I know this one in point 
of loyalty and devotion to all that 
goes with the day was the best one 
Herrin has ever had. 

But refen-ing back to the band and 
the preparing of a suitable grove: 
We had but four weeks in which lo 
practice. Few, if any, except the lead 
er knew one note from another, but bi 
four weeks we mastered those instru- 
ments and marched triumphantly at 
the head of the procession, playing 
music that would make Sousa stand 
up and take notice, which feat prove(T 
beyond a doubt our ability as musi- 
cians. 

After this we rented a hall, an old 
two story frame structure that stood 
where the Chinese laundry is now. 
It was built by Charles Gargus then 
of Carterville. Herrin did not go by 
the name of Herrin by the people of 
Carterville and Marion. They callled 
it Buckhorn, and even Mr, Gargus 
secured a deer's head with antlers and 
placed it high up on the front of his 
building, symbolizing the name they 
had given to Herrin. But, thanks be 
to Providence that Herrin has risen 
from a village of Dagoes and coal min 
ers as one prominent citizen of Ma- 



—36— 

lion characterized it, to its proud posi- 
tion as the largest and best city In 
all the Coal Belt. 

Most people hex-e have forgotten the 
name that they gave us and we look 
back over the years of struggles we 
have had building from the founda- 
tion up, overcoming- every obstacle 
even to the fun poked at us by our 
sipter cities with theiir foundations 
laid years ago. To sit and muse by 
the dying embers of the strides we 
have made and how we have passed 
them like a passenger train does 
a tramp, we awate from our reveries, 
saying, "Wonderful! how wonderful!' 
But even in our exultation a small 
tear trickles from our eye in pity for 
those we have left behind. 

I gueas I have got off the subject. 
This building I refer to had a saloon 
on the first floor and a hall above, 
with a dumb waiter connecting the 
two, and which you could also use 
as a telephone. We did not talk 
through it as you do a telephone but 
signaled by quickly jerking the rope 
and the operator at the other end 
would understand what was wanted. 

After this we began to give con- 
certs on the streets on evenings. Some 
business people appreciated those con- 
certs more than others and it did not 
tJlke us long to find this out. Then 
M'e played for the; man that showeTt us 
the most appreciation. Competition 
got pretty strong between them at 
times much to the satisfaction of the 
band. 

Then to have a change, we began 
to stage birthday serenades. We 
would find out the date of a man's 
birthday and march in silence to his 
residence and play a few select pieces. 



—37— 

He generally would appenr niid Irir 
vile us to he seated ajid it was ac- 
cording to his tenipermcnt whether wr 
R:ot something to eat or somethinfj 
to drink. 

They were always prepared for we 
had seen to it that some member 
whispered the news to him on the 
quiet so that he would be ready for us. 

The villa^fe was justly proud of its 
band. We had a preat time and it 
is with fond memories that we Took 
back to those care free happy days 
and recall that old poem — 

Backward, turn backward, Oh, time 
in your flight. 

Make me a bandman just for to-, 
night. 



ONE FORMER MAYOR 
OF HbRRIN TELLS HOW 
HIS PREOECESSOR IN 
OFFICE HYPNOTIZED 
HIM ONJIS ARRIVAL 

By W. B. WALKER 

Our yesterdays and day befores 
are erased from the calendar of time 
but not from memory. Dull indeed 
would life be if the past was lost In 
the flight of time. We all like to 
pause at times to let memory turn 
back the pages in the book of life and 
linger again for a time mid the scenes 
of the past. 

I am thankful for memory which 
wafts me backward through the flight 
of years to Mother and the dreamland 
of happy childhood days, I am thank 



ful this hour that memory brings to 
ine the smiling faces of tire many 
people I learned to love while living 
there. 

Well do I remember my first even- 
ing spent in H'erri(n I came over 
from Marion to Herrin on the street 
car. We were three hours making 
the trip. I got off the car at the 
First National 6 p. m. Saturday, Sep- 
tember 10th, 1904. It was payday at 
No. 7 mine. 

The bank was doing a land office 
business. I stood there for a time 
watching the multitude and wonder- 
ing in which direction the city was 
•located. After awhile I fell in among 
the crowd headed north and in a few 
moments I landed on what I learned 
afterwards was Elles' corner. 

The blind and lame were there blow- 
ing their harps, thumping their 
H'uitars and playing ther fiddles. 

The old board walk was squeaking 
i-attling and flopping while men from 
all nations were on parade. I was 
just fresh from the World's Fair at 
St. Louis and thought I had left most 
of humanity there. But away down 
there in Egypt-in a mining camp with 
dusty streets and board walks was 
a parading throng that would have 
have made St. Louis go way back 
and sit down. 

I was in need of a shave so I be- 
gan to look for a striped pole. I 
soon found a sign that read right and 
walked into an old frame building on 
North Park avenue about where the 
Herrin Supply Company's five and ten 
cent store is now located. Some 
great big fellow with a towel thrown 
across one shoulder and with eyes 
that blinked like a frog's pointed to 
a high chair and said you're next. 



—39— 

Dave Wilkerson, mayor Hcnin, was 
,tlie barber. 

It didn't take him lonj^ to find out 
that I was a newcomer and it didn't 
take me long to fiml out that lie was 
mayor. 

While he lathered and shaved, wink 
ed the other eye and .'^pit tobacco 
juice, he told me more of Herrin's 
history than I ever learned after- 
wards. While he was grinding it out 
to me like a hand organ a shot wa.-* 
heard in a little lunch room that join- 
ed the barbel' shtop on the north. 
The cry on the street was heard that 
a man was shot. 

In a moment-all was confusion. The 
mayor was gone and I was only half 
shaved. 

Say, Mr. Editor were you ever hyp- 
notised — did you^ver dream a beauti- 
ful dream and awake to find it gone 7 
Well, that was me. I was hypnotised 
soothed to sleep.. I lay there in that 
old barber chair like a man awaken- 
ing from a trance. I wondered where 
tiie mayor was and if he would re- 
turn. After awhila anotlier barber 
came in and finished shaving me. But 
that story of the mayor was never 
completed; the shot that robbed a 
man of his life also rol^bod tw <• 
about ten minutes more of Heri'inV 
early history. 

I have been up and down tho worl-! 
some but I'll tell the world that 1 
never met before or after a m.an that 
could put me to sleep like the bar- 
ber-mayor of Herrin. 

I lived in Herrin for fifteen year.". 
While there I was elected and served, 
two years as mayor of your city. 

I saw the town transfdrmed from 
a mining camp with dusty streets in- 
to a city beautiful with a population 



—40— 

of fifteen thousand. 

Your churches and schools, your 
paved streets, beautiful homes and 
well kept lawns are but the reflec- 
tion of the thought and labor of the 
people who call it home. 

All things good and beautiful come 
to a people who learn to labor and 
wait. I hope that your dreams of a 
bigger and better Herrin may be real- 
ized as the years go by. 

May wisdom guide the city in all 
her ways. 

May 1922 blessings be showered up 
on you and your paper and may peace, 
prosperity and happiness be theirs, 
yours and mine. 
Longmont, Colo. 



HARD COUNTER WAS 
FIRST BED IN HEI 
FOR YOUNG MEN WHO 
BECAMmOSPEROUS 

In Herrin of old, 

The counter was cold, 
Bed Bugs were bold 

And landladies would scold. 

Would you believe that Fred Stotlar 
wealthy business man, and Paul D. 
Heri'in, now a prosperous farmer^ had 
to put up with accommodations in the 
early days of Herrin that a first class 
tramp would have spumed? Think 
of it! These scions of proud old fam- 
ilies, one now in his fine Marion home, 
with all comforts of life, the other 
rolling in luxury in Missouri, had to 
sleep on a hard counter in an old 
frame store, and were accustomed to 
regard "ham and" as a luxury! And 



worse still, they later bccajiie intimate 
as.^ociates of bed bugs, both foreign 
and domestic, for many bug-s had been 
imported here from far distant climes. 
Yes, and they had to take cussings 
from the landladies of those days and 
look pleasant at the same time. For 
were they not laying the foundation 
for their future prosperity? And 
these same men, who now would frown 
upon anything of the sort, had to in- 
vent excuses that In this day and gen- 
eration would be called bald faced 
lies in order to hold their jobs! It 
is even so, because Mr. Herrin has 
written it. But let him tell the story 
in liis own way. 

Paul D. Herrin, in response to a 
request that he contribute an article 
for the Reunion Edition of The News, 
writes from Eureka, Mo., that he is 
doing well there as a farmer. Eureka 
is in St. Louis county, on both the 
main lines of the Missouri Pacific and 
Frisco roads, 26 miles from the city 
of St. Louis. Mr. Herrin says he 
frequently drives in his Ford to St. 
Louis in an hour and a half. Eureka Is 
at the foothills of the famous Ozarks, 
and Mr. Herrin says the scenery and 
clirnate ecjual in his judgment those 
of Colorado. 

Mr. Hen-in has a farm of 200 acres. 
Fifty of these are in timber and sewed 
to blue grass for pastureage. There 
are several good running springs that 
never go dry. Mr. Hen-in parentheti- 
cally mentions that there is no still on 
the place but he has often heai-d it 
said out there that more white mule 
is made and bootlegged in St. Louis 
county than in any other county in 
the United States, except William.son 
county. 111. 

On the Herrin farm fifteen acres 



are in orchards. There are about 850 
fruit trees of several varieties. Some 
of the land is in alfalfa and clover. 
The main crops are wheat, corn and 
oats. The corn crop turned out well 
last year. Mr. Herrin is feeding fifty 
heads of hogs for the market. He 
has three fine Jersey cows and 
chickens^ turkeys and guineas galore. 
He likes that life fine. It is plain 
from Mr. Herrin's letter that he is 
leading a life to be envied. This is 
what he has written about Herrin as 
he knew it in the early days: 
By PAUL D. HERRIN 

After thinking the matter over for 
some days, I do not recall that Her- 
rin was ever terribly* wild and woolly. 
'Tis true there were some shooting 
scrapes and fights in the early days 
but not so many when on reflects back 
to those days. I recall only the Joe 
McCabe and George Hudson and 
Drasty Allen and Tom Lisby shoot- 
ings for a long period of time and 
my recollection is that both shootings 
occurred as a result, of policemen dis- 
charging their duty. Both McCabe 
and Allen, who were policemen, were 
exonerated. 

What wonderful changes have taken 
place in Herrin: When I first went 
there only three business houses were 
in existence. The Elles Stoi'e Com-, 
pany ,now the Herrin Supply Com- 
pany, had just bought from Stotlar 
Brothers the corner where the pres- 
ent store is. There was a one story 
frame building, about 20 by 60 or 70 
feet on the site. On the east corner 
James Conner, known as "Spot" Con- 
ner, had built a small frame, not near- 
ly as large or as good as the Stotlar 
building the Elles firm bought. On 
the south of the railroad Harry Dale 




had put up a small building. The El- 
les Store Company, Harry Dale and 
"Spot" Conner hatl the only business 
[)laces in the village. In a short time 
•mother building was put up between 
tho.se of the Elles firm and Conner's. 
This one was erected by fhe Dawson 
Brothers, who went into the mercan 
tile business In a little while build- 
ings began to spring up all over the 
little territory that had been laid out 
for the town. / 

At the time I speak of I was work- 
ing for the Elles Store Company, 
P'red Stotlar was also working there 
and he was the manager. He and I 
slept on a counter in the store and 
l)oarded wherever we could get meals. 
I have thought many times that the 
board at some places was harder than 
the counter we used for our bed. A 
little later when the town had grown 
■;o fast as to justify a night police- 
man Fred and 1 had a chance to go 
to some boarding house where we 
could sleep as well as eat. Well, our 
eating got much better, as time went 
on, but as the town's buildings were 
all of cheap frame materials it seem- 
ed they were better adapted to bed- 
bugs than boarders such as flocked 
to them. At that time a large per 
oentage of the citizens kept boardei.-. 
or wanted to keep them. Most of 
these people were customers of the 
Elles firm, and as competition in the 
mercantile field was keen Fred and I 
wished to get and keep all the busi- 
ness we could for our firm. We had 
to use all kinds of excu.ses. We were 
iften told by women who were good 
customers of the Elles store, that if 
we did not board with them they were 
iroing to trade elsewhere. One wo- 
man said her husband had been hurt 



- 44— 

at a mine, or had been -sick, and she 
needed our board money to pay her 
grocery bill. So Fred and I would 
conceive of some excuse for leaving 
the place where we were boarding, or 
an excuse to keep from leaving. We 
changed so often our stock of excuses 
ran out and we had to use old ones 
over again. 

After about one year of sleeping 
on the counter and boarding, which I 
have only briefly sketched, I decided 
to get married, which was about the 
time Hei-rin began to grow at a rate 
I doubt any town in Illinois has ever 
equaled. To give an idea just how 
fast it was growing I still remember 
that at one time I was furnishing all 
the building materials for 75 houses 
and a part of materials for four, mak- 
ing in all 79 houses for my firm. The 
other lumber yard was older and bet- 
ter established and I supposed was 
selling about as mxich as my firm. -So 
you see there must have been about 
150 buildings under construction at 
one time. 

There are so many things about the 
city of Herrin and the persons who 
have been identified with its develop- 
ment it would take too much of my 
time and too much of your space to 
tell it all. So I will .say I hope Her- 
rin may continue to grow and that it 
may become bigger and better in ev- 
ery way. I really believe it is the 
best city in southern Illinois and its 
people are as good as any in the world 



4F— 



CALLS fei M.^GiC 
CIIY OF MIDDLE, WESI 



By J. B. KAHX 

I hardly feel entitled to contrii)ute 
to tlie "Reunion Number" for when 
we first came to Herrin in li>07 "that 
bif? over-grown village," though, lack- 
ing street improvements and sanita- 
tions of every description, had the 
earmarks of a hustling and bustling 
little city destined to become in the 
not far off future the "hub" of little 
Egypt. Still what a wonderful trans- 
formation; what a magic change in 
the short period of 15 years. Then 
a bo.x car for a depot, no water or 
sewer system, streets and walks full 
of mud knee deep, no hotels, old 
fashioned store houses. Today 15,000 
population, a beautiful and up-to-date 
depot and warehouse, a modem watei* 
and sewer system, fine paved streets 
and concrete sidewalks, hotels good 
enough for any metropolis, nice large 
.<=tores, grand lodge rooms, magnifi- 
cient houses of worship, good progres- 
sive newspapers, high grade schools, 
attractive homes, a big theatre, an as- 
sured street car line. This is prog- 
ress which every Herrin citizen, 
whether he votes thei*e or not, can 
justly be proud of. 

If Miami, Fla., is called the Magic 
City of the South, Herrin ought to be 
called the Magic City of the Middle 
West as both cities were incorporated 
in the same year — 1900. 

Herrin has been, is, and always will 
be the best town in Southern Illinois. 



Thanks to the progressive city ad- 
ministraton, wide-awake improve- 
ment association and enterprising- 
citizens, Herrin bids fair of becoming 
a city of 25,00 population soon. 
Daytonia Beach, Fla. 



G. w. BANoy ly coil 

BACKHIOllV 



G. W. Bandy, now residing at 318 
9th street, N. E., Washington, D. C, 
writes The Herrin News as follows: 

"I was bom and reared at Herrin's 
Prairie, but have been- for some time 
and still am holding a position on the 
Washington police force. It is a very 
nice job but we are thinking of com- 
ing back to Herrin, or West Frank- 
fort, sometime during the next sum 
mer to live. It will seem more like 
home to us, although Washington is- 
the finest and cleanest city to live m 
in the country. The schools are fine 
and that is what is keeping us here 
as the two gii'ls are doing fine. One 
graduated the first of the year in the 
high school and is now attending a 
business college, taking stenography. 
She will get through in July. Then 
we may move back to Herrin or go 
to Frankfort. It is an education In 
itself to live in Washington. 

"The snowstorm here recently was 
something fierce. Of course you read 
all about the terrible theatre disaster. 
Am sending you picture of myself 
shoveling snow in front of our home 
the day after the storm. Remember 
me to all my friends.' ' 



FROM \\m mmE 

OF COMiiM ClOB 



By \\. A. BARTLKTT 

I arrived in Herrin July KJtIi, ll»0(i. 
and was disappointed and discouraj?cd 
for a few months on account of con- 
senting- to go Tliere as agent of the 
C. B. & Q. I cannot help but notice 
the fii'st few lines of the clipping 
from the paper attached to your let- 
ter stating that "Herrin ain't what 
she use to be," and considering the 
welfare of the Inhabitants of Herrin 
today I can heartily thank God that 
she ain't. But, even at that time it 
only took me a few months to leai-n 
that there were in Herrin a lot of 
good, energetic, public-spirited men 
and women that were not content to 
sit quietly and allow those conditions 
to continue without an earnest effort 
for improvement. I learned this in 
a few months after arriving there 
and also learned that all that was 
needed in order to bring about the 
improvements so earnestly desired 
was for someone to take the initiative 
and start some plan that would bring 
about the desired results. You and I 
had TTiany personal talks along the.se 
lines and no doubt you will call to 
mind that I suggested that one way 
to consolidate this thought and de- 
sire for improvement and bring about 
the co-operation of all th^ Herrin 
people that were interested in the 
future welfare of Herrin would be 
to form a Commercial Club, not only 
for the business men, but all of the 



— 18— 

people in Herrin that we could interest 
in this subject to begin improvements. 
1 remember you requesting me to put 
this thought into writing- and you 
would print it in your Herrin News 
with remarks in your editorial column 
advocating it. We diet this and the 
result was the forming of a Commer- 
cial Club of which the Herrin people 
honored me by electing me its first 
president. The result of the efforts 
of the Herrin Commercial Club start- 
ed in' this way with the earnest in- 
terest that the members took result- 
ing in bringing about the impi'ove- 
ments that Herrin enjoys today, for 
as far as I have been able to learn, 
every one of the improvements were 
advocated and earnestly worked for 
by the Hei'rin Commercial Club right 
from the start, which meant added 
schools, business, wat€r-works, sew- 
erage, pavement, improved hotels and 
advancement along not only com- 
mercial but along educational lines 
as well and I congratulate the Her- 
rin citizens for their work along 
these lines that they have continued 
since the first start of the Commercial 
Club in 1906 and feel proud when I 
remember that I had a small part in 
the starting of this good work, and 
I know from the spirit shown at this 
time will continue through the years 
to come as it has in these last six- 
teen years until Herrin will be an up- 
to-date city instead of a town, as 
you now call it. 

Kindly remember me to all my old 
friends in Herrin and assure them 
that it is my earnest wish for their 
continued prosperity and welfare. 
Peoria, 111. 



■\-) 



iO[ IH[ GOAI 



In the early days of Henin many 
wild pranks were played. The follow- 
ing incident was related to The Her- 
rin News: "A man well-known here 
in those days had pailaken too freely 
of the obejoyful. He mounted his 
horse and went out for a ride. Hi.^ 
course was by the way of Cherry and 
14th streets. On the southeast cor- 
ner there was a saloon famous in that 
day. The. man rode across the board 
sidewalk and ripht into the saloon 
where he ordered drinks. He was ar 
rested for riding his horse on the side- 
walk and into the saloon. After ho 
sobered up he wanted to square 
thing.*' with the officer who had arrest- 
ed him. The officer to'd him to come 
to his room that night and bring sev- 
eral quarts of whiskey. This the man 
did. "Tell you what to do," said the 
officer. "When the case is called you 
testify that you were riding the horse 
without bridle, that you couUl not 
control him and that the horse went 
into the saloon of his ov^m accord." 

The man did so testify adn came 
clear." 



50— 



IS mm eiN 



By C. D. COOK 

Early in 1913 I was advised that 
Herrin was without an ice plant and 
upon personal investigation of the 
situation and with the assistance of 
some good enthusiastic citizens I de- 
cided to cast my lot, perhaps the re- 
mainder of my life among people 
whom I soon found to be the most con- 
j.';enial, honest and hospitable I had 
ever come in contact with 

I shall always remember the finan- 
cia assistance given to me by the 
banks and local citizens and the loyal- 
ty of my patrons who made the Her- 
rin Ice & Coal Company a successful 
institution in your city. I can say 
further that my business dealings 
with the American and Italian people 
were pleasant in every respect. 

After four years operating this ice 
plant I thought it advisable to sell it 
for what I considered a good price 
for the property and sold the plant 
iji February 1917 to the DuQuoin 
Utilities Company, who owns and op- 
erates it at the present time. 

After a short vacation in Florida 
I returned to Columbus, Indiana, and 
at once started to remodel an old ice 
plant owned by my father. During 
which time war was declared and in 
October I enlisted in the Ice Plant Co. 
No. 301, a special unit formed with 
a personnel of 350 men to build and 
operate ice and refrigerating plants 
in France. We were sent over seas 
at once and, after building the largest 



—51— 

plant in the world at Gievres I was 
one of ei^lit men detailed separately 
to superintend the erection of small 
plants at hospital centers and supply 
bases. 

After 22 months in the service 1 
returned home and completed my 
work, niakinp: what had formerly been 
an old ice plant into one of the larg- 
est and most modern coal yards in 
the state. 

A local corporation recently or- 
ganized here in Columbus, capitalized 
at $1GO,000 in which I am a stock- 
holder took over both ice plants in- 
cluding the coal yard and I accepted 
a position with them as general maji- 
ager. 

Mrs. Cook and myself will always 
cherish the friendship of the Herrin 
people and will gladlj/ welcome a 
visit from them at any time. 
Columbus, Ind. 



HERRIN NEWS ISSUES 

BOUAR EDITION 

IJy WILLIAM MITCHELL 

In the month of August fifteen 
years ago I landed in the city of Her- 
rin, never having seen the place be- 
fore and in the words of the Apostle 
of the Gentiles "not knowing the 
things that should befall me there." 
There appeared to be only one hotel 
in the place and it was called the 
"Cash Hotel." Not knowing that the 
landlord's name was Cash and nof hav 
ing an extra surplus of ca.sh on hand 
and being rather light in the matter 
of ^aggagc, I was wondering how it 
was going to fare with me if 1 



—52— 

should happen to be asked to put up 
in advance for two weeks, which v.-a^^ 
the time I expected to stay in the 
town. Upon applying at the hotel in 
question I found that I couldn't gei 
a weekly rate but a rate for only one 
day at a time and that at a price that 
would make the H. C. L. of today 
pale into insignificance. Finding my- 
self "up against it" I wandered 
north on Park avenue, for I learned 
that was the name of what seemed 
,to be the principal street in the town. 
I presently was standing in front 
of a newspaper oflRce, and knowing 
that an up-to-date newspaper office is 
usually a good bureau of information, 
I entered and was kindly received by 
the proprietor, Mr. Trovillion. After 
telling him my troubles I was inform- 
ed that the only thing for me to do 
was to find a room somewhere and 
take my meals at a restaurant. Bur, 
the room, where was that to be 
found? The editor knew of none, 
when suddenly Joe Bond, the fore- 
man of the composing room, who 
heard the conversation, told me of 
one place where he heard the occupant 
was leaving and I might possibly get 
a room there. I made "a bee line for 
that place and fortunately found 
where to lay my head. 

In my experience I found a novel 
situation resulting from the over- 
crowded condition of the city. At the 
Keller Boarding House where I stay- 
ed I was obliged to give up my room 
at a certain hour every morning for 
the bed was used for three night 
.shifts in the twenty-four hours, the 
night workers occupying it for two 
out of the three shifts. 



—53— 

I called daily at the News office to 
sed the Chicago papers. From Mr. 
Trovillion I learned that the town 
was on a bip: boom and that many of 
the evangeli.-^ts of commerce and oth- 
er travelers were oblijjated to sleep 
at ni>?ht in the seats in the 1. C. wait- 
ing room. 

An innocent journeyman printer, 
working in the Herrin News compos- 
ing room, was found sleeping in an 
empty box car in the I. C. yards, and 
by an overzealous policeman was un- 
ceremoniously aiTested and thrown in 
to the cooler. This raised a furious 
storm of protest about the treatment 
of decent people .who couldn't find a 
lodgment in an overcrowded city and 
resulted in the issue of the famous 
"Box Car Edition" of The Herrin 
News, nearly two thousand copies of 
which wei'e distributed free to the 
public one Sunday morning. This 
created a big sensation and led to a 
change in the manner of treating the 
new comers to the city. For me, the 
unexpected happened, and I remain- 
ed in Herrin, connected with The 
News, until the end of 1907. 

My next visit to the city of Herrin 
was in 1915, eight years later. It 
v.as difficult for me to realize that 
it was the same plare that I had been 
in eight years before. Thei-e wao a 
well-equipped «.«>ta'eet ..car eysbem, a 
new city hall, a score of first class 
up-to-date commercial and bank 
buildings, several spaciov •, and well 
managed hotels, a splendid modern 
school building in each ward and a 
palatial town, hip High School and 
hundreds of beautiful private resi- 
dences, altogether c marvelous trans- 
formation; but best of all the presence 
• •f a runiber of fine churches. This 



_54— 

is the one feature in the city's growth 
and expansion that I want to em- 
phasize. 

In what is called a mad pursuit of 
wealth and progress in material 
things the existence of latent moral 
forces in what theolgians call deprav- 
ed human nature was unmistakably 
in evidence. The spiritual welfare of 
the people was not overlooked. If 
the low and grovelling estimate of- 
human nature so often adopted by 
Christian pessimists were true there 
would be very litHe chance for reform 
in this world. Fortunately men and 
women are not as bad as they are 
often thought to be. Even at its 
worst, in its so-called uni-egenerate 
state, there is, in what Lincoln called 
"the better angels of our nature,'' a 
response to all rational efforts for 
betterment. A great writer has said 
that "It is significant that no one has 
ever "brought the accusation of being 
an easy optimist against the greatest 
optimist the world has ever seen." 
Jesus would have been a madman 
had He addressed such an appeal as 
His to a nature capable of anything 
less than the highest things. Christ's 
message in its wholeness is jassuredly 
the greatest compliment that has ever 
been paid to human nature. William 
Penn made a treaty with the Indians. 
He kept his side they kept theirs. 
John Woolman carried the Gospel of 
peace to a tribe actually on the war- 
path. They met him with reverence 
and courtesy. 

When Herrin was thought by many 
to be a godless city I have seen it 
Sweep twenty-eight saloons out of 
existence in one day, and while the 
present system of dealing with the 
drink evil is neither perfect nor 



—55— 

permanent its support by the people 
is proof of that response in human 
nature to the call for better moral 
conditions. The moral <iuality of an 
action resides in the intention. Today 
while in many citie?; in other parts of 
the nation the theatres and the movies 
are runninj? wide open nipht and day 
in full blast on Sunday that seculariz- 
ing of the Sabbath han never occurred 
in Herrin. 

lobserved that the social and in- 
tellectual life of the city was not nep- 
lected. Among the ladies several 
societies and literary clubs were or- 
ganized. The nucleus fo^r a public 
library was started by volunteer con- 
tributions of books by the citizens. 
A room in the city hall was set apart 
for its accommodation and a librarian 
appointed. 

I was in Herrin when the United 
States entered the Great War and 
witnessed the patriotic enthusiasm of 
its citizens in their loyalty to the call 
of the government. In this connec- 
tion one of the most remarkable 
things took place that was ever re- 
corded in the history of democracies 
when an edict was issued from Wash- 
ington — without saying by vour leave 
— recjuiring all the male citizens in 
the nation between the ages of 21 
and 31 to leave their families and oc- 
cupations and become soldiers, there 
were few recalcitrants or slacker? 
but a prompt universal response to 
the call, and the record made by 
those who went "over there" will nev- 
er bring the blush of shame to the 
city from which they went. 

Up here, in Canada, the uplifter.-? 
and kill-joys are still with us. One 
writes in a newspaper to the effect 
Santa Claus should be no more. "A 



—U— 

He," he says, "is a wilfull perversion 
of the truth," and as Santa Claus io 
a lie it is our duty to get out and 
kill him. But is Santa Claus a lie? 
It seems clear that each fits in with 
the other. Are we to kill our fairies 
and bury our fairy books because In 
the minds of some people, incapable 
of seeing them, they are a "pei-verslon 
of the truth?" 

Listen to what this fellow writes: 

"Now, sir, the number of absolute 
falsehoods, told deliberately, and with 
malice aforethought, about the com- 
ing of Santa Claus, is I'eally incalcul- 
able. Myriads of innocent children 
are given detailed accounts of his ac- 
tual existence, appearance and meth- 
ods. Childish letters are written "in 
good faith" and they are answered, 
thank God, in good faith by many mil- 
lions of Santa Clauses. And the 
world is happier for it Tear up your 
Santa Claus, bum his whiskers, for- 
get that he comes from the North 
/Pole in his reindeer sleigh. Hire 
men to watch all the chimneys on 
Christmas eve. Pass a law against 
having Christmas trees. Then start 
in and make a real drsary world of it 
by putting, love, generosity and de- 
votion under the ban, and add to the 
scrap heap faith, fancy, poetry and 
romance. 

Tliat just leaves us nothing but 
death and our taxes to be happy 
about. 

I noticed that the Canadian news- 
papers were singularly silent in res- 
pect to the orgies which went on In 
various United States cities on New 
Year's eve; and as these wild scenes, 
unparalleled "in the history of that 
country, all took place under the 
regime of the Volstead Act, the facts 



—67— 

are doubly interesting. New York, 
Chicago and Buffalo are mentioned 
particularly as centers where every- 
thing from murder to just plain pois- 
onings were the features of the fes- 
tive occasion. In New York city holi- 
day "booze" of a poisonous character 
(wood alcohol) left a trail of dead, 
dying and blinded. Some hundred 
poisoned people were treated in the 
New York hospitals over the week 
end, while deaths from imbibing the 
stuff numbered a score. Sixteen peo- 
ple, men and women, were taken to 
hospitals suffering from shot or knife 
wounds. Into thousands of hotels, 
restaurants, cabarets and "clubs" 
swarmed the people, loaded down with 
drinkables of one sort and another, 
while, outside the hoodlums were 
keeping the police busy with an un- 
paralleled outburst of violence. In 
other words New York drank itself 
crazy, while the head of the state 
Anti-Saloon League boasted that the 
city would be a Sahara over the New 
Year. 
Guelph, Canada. 



AN OLD LANDMARK 
WHO IS YET WITH US 



Many of the states of the Union 
have contributed of their citizenship 
to help swell the population of Herrin. 
Excepting only Illinois, Kentucky 
probably has given us more men and 
women than any other state. As far 
as can be ascertained with any de- 
cree of certainty, the first person f» 
arrive hoi-e from the "Dark and 
nin(i(I\ Gioimd" in flif> (1;i\- ■ {tf the ip- 



— 58 — 

fancy of the present metropolis of 
the Coal Belt, was the gentleman 
whose familiar figure is shown in an 
illustration on this page. All of you 
know him, the only oi'iginal Lige Har- 
ris. 

Whether or not Lige encouraged an 
exodus from Kentucky to Herrin does 
not matter. Suflfice it to say, that 
Lige has always been a leader and 
he has had followers. Soon after he 
left the Henderson section of his 
native commonwealth and landed in 
Kerrin others came from the Blue 
Grass state. They kept on coming 
r.nd they are still arriving. Lige is 
of opinion that he is the original 
Kentuckian in Herrin and so far ther« 
has been no one found to dispute his 
word. 

"I don't just recall the year I land- 
ed in Herrin," Lige told The News. 
'But when I came here there was no 
''o^'^a, ony a very~small village, with 
one or two stores. I J realized then 
that this v/as going to be some city 
in the not distant future and I stay- 
i^d. All of my early predictions have 
'^ome true." 

Lige was asked if he were not the 
man who was instrumental in inducing 
the Illinois Central Railroad Company 
to build from Carboi^.dale through 
Herrin to Johnston City. Lige mod- 
estly admitted that he was guilty. He 
would not go into details but between 
frequent expectorations of tobacco 
juice he gave gentle intimations that 
not only did he use all sorts of propa- 
ganda to get the Illinois Central to 
put Herrin on its map but as the re- 
sult of agitations he started many 
other improvements came. Mind you, 
I^ige did not claim that he was direct- 



... responsible for the city hall, finely 
{)ave<l streets, waterworks, high 
.v^hool, the finest playhouse and th 

IIi: HELPED TO MAKE HElTilIN 
r.REATi:ST CITY OF COAL bELT 




The tJnij- Orij;inui Liye iiarris 

best hotel in southern Illinois, but 
he confessetl to the soft impeachment 



—60— 

that to the best of his recollection he 
was the first to discover the needs of 
these improvements and to speak of 
them in season and out of season. 
Often he was ridiculed for his am- 
bitious plans but Lige kept hammer- 
ing away at one thing till the people 
took hold in earnest and then he would 
start agitating for some other big- 
scheme. In other words, he was and 
is the pioneer boomer. He has led 
the procession m his modest way. 

Lige has not got credit for the 
many things it has done for Herrln 
and it is the purpose of this article 
l;o give this faithful old leader due 
ci-edit. 

Right here^ it might be stated that 
some things Lige is credited with hav- 
ihg done he did not do. The story 
told years ago and handed down to the 
effect that Lige thought he owned the 
Illinois Central railroad when it was 
built to Herrin and that he purposed 
Koing to Marion and having the deed 
cocorded is a fabrication pure and 
simple. Lige in talking about this 
report called it by another name than 
fabrication. He can use unmistakable 
'anguage when he wishes to be very 
positive about anything. 

During the ' World War Lige was 
one of the patriots of whom Herrin 
was proud. He was right up at the 
front of the front when it came to 
show down of colors. And on last 
Armistice Day it did one's heart good 
to see him marching with soldierly 
tread along with the boys from the 
Legion Post and the school children, 
car^'ying the Stars and Stripes. 

Daily the hero of this story goes 
about his chosen occupation of push- 
ing his littl^ cart, cleaning up alleys 



—Gl- 
and disposing of such stuff as may 
be salable. Were it not for him the 
assistant fire marshal, who recently 
spent weeks in Herrin, would have 
found more to complain of than lie 
did. 

At a little distance Lige looks to 
be cross but he really in a very mild 
mannered man. A close up view 
shows a beni.Efn countenance. He likes 
a little fun and the only times he 
ever becomes cross is when boys and 
urown men tease him beyond endui- 
unce or play cruel practical jokes. 
Those who find sport in having fun 
at the expense of Lige are reminded 
tn:it we read in the Good Book that 
after one of the prophets of old who 
Iran been treated somewhat as Lige is 
jcked, there came two bears and kill- 
ed forty of the smart youngsters. Or 
it may have been forty bears killed 
two of the mockers. You will find it 
in the story about Elisha or Elijah. 
Hunt it up. 



BONO lELLS WHY 

HE lOE mm 

HIS ABIDING PUCE 



, By JOE M.-BOND 

While I can't be classed as an old 
settler, yet I have been here long 
enough to see many changes and im- 
provements in Herrin, 

I will never forget my experience 
on my first glimpse of HeiTin. 

I arrived here hi September, 190C. 



—62— 

I had a traveling- card issued by the 
St. Louis Typographical Union. On 
my arrival I began to look for the 
secretai-y of the printers' union and I 
was just four days in locating liini. 
I finally found the secretary, deposit- 
ed my cai'd, and went to work for 
Hal W. Trovillion in the Herrin News 
office at $13 per week. All type was 
set by hand and we used kerosene 
lights, fastened on the frame. We 
pi'inied the paper on an old Chicago 
Stop Cylinder Campbell Press, and 
when the old gasoline engine gave 
out, it was up to the "devil'" and my- 
self to furnish the motive power. 

I never will forget one day, the 
snow was about 2 feet deep in the 
back yard and the engine house at 
the back of the building was very 
open and the snow had blown, and 
as a result the gasoline engine had 
froze up. I worked with it about two 
hours, and she would not "budge." I 
came inside in the building, washed 
up and decided I would quit the job 
and leave town. I never said a word 
but walked out with my mind made 
up I had quit. After getting outside 
I counted my money and found I had 
$2.85 in money. I could have made 
it to San Francisco on that amount, 
and had money left, but as my wife 
and 3 children could not ride a freight 
train and I could not pay their way 
very far with $2.85, I decided I would 
go into Chas. Pisoni's saloon, next 
door, and have a few drinks of his 
famous "Old Tim Brook." 

After I had spent the greatest part 
of my Two Eighty Five for his 
famous brand, I decided I would go 
take another trial at the old gas en- 
gine. I went back and "juiced her 



— r,3— 

up," turned over the wheel, and tlia: 
damn eng:ine started to run and she 
never missed another stroke for sev- 
eral days. I had discovei*ed what it 
took to make that enjLpne run, and 
from then on whenever she got to 
"acting up" I went and took another 
drink. 

When I first came to town, I could 
find plenty to eat and drink, but could 
not find a bed in town that was not 
working, so I slept on a table in the 
shop for a couple of week5, until my 
friend, "Brad," finally made* room for 
me at his hotel. About the third 
night I spent in tke office I heard an 
explosion on the opposite side of the 
street from the shop, and I discover- 
ed the next morning the night police 
had killed a man in making an arrest. 
I figured that kind of a game was 
too strenuous for me, so I told Mr. 
Trovillion Saturday night when I got 
my pay that I guess I would ijuit 
and get out of the town as I did not 
care to be killed or kill anybody. He 
had been here a couple of years and 
had got used to such doings, and he 
persuaded me to stay and get used 
to a little killing now and then. I 
remained and have had the pleasure 
of seeing the town <levelop from a 
mining camp of a few hundred to 
a live city of 15,000 people. 

In 1910 I was elected as City Clerk 
on the ticket when Mage Ander.son 
was elected Mayor. When .Ander- 
son's administration came in the 
town was' a mud hole — no paving — no 
water or sewer system. He proceetl- 
e<l at once to get busy and that a<l- 
ministration put in the water and 
sewer system and paved the down- 
town section. When the water svs- 



—64— 

tern was first mentioned the natives 
wanted to hang the whole council, 
and before the system was completed 
those same people had presented 
petitions to us to have the system 
extended. We had our troubles as 
well as our pleasures in conducting 
the business of the city and some of 
the happiest days of my life were 
spent in the old city hall in the Dil- 
lard building, with that bunch of 
good fellows, namely: Jack Goalby, 
"Soda" Will, L. W. Steckenrider, Geo. 
Galligan, H. H. MuiTay, Mag^ Ander- 
son and others. 

Steckenrider could sleep standing 
up, walking around and almost sleep 
while talking. One night business 
had ceased and every one in the hall 
was perfectly quiet. "Steck" was 
peacefully sleeping. "Soda" Will, 
sitting along side of "Steck" reached 
over, punched "Steck" in the ribs, 
and in a stage whisper said, "Steck' 
you second the motion — hurry up." 
"Steck" jerked himself to life, 
straightened up, rubbed his eyes and 
addressed the house: "Mr, Mayor, I 
rise to second the motion." My 
friend, "Steck" got mixed up in sev- 
eral tangles, but his seconding the 
motion when' there was no motion 
before the house, I thought was the 
hottest one he ever pulled. 

We had lots of business, some fun 
as we went along, but I firmly be- 
lieve "we have been thanked more 
than we have been cursed for the 
things accomplished during the ad- 
ministration of the famous Mage An- 
derson and his co-workers. 

May Herrin ever continue to gi*ow 
and remain one of the most prosper- 
ous cities of the Coal Belt is my wish. 



— G5 — 

AS I REMEMBER HERHIN 
IN ITS_FORMATION 

By A. C. HKNTZ 

In the spring of IS'.iD we moved to 
Hen-in, a village of a few hundred 
people. Old No. 7 mine was the only 
mine doing much business in the way 
of hoisting coal. Elles Store Com- 
pany wa.s operating a small general 
store where the store now stands, the 
former being a little fi*ame country 
type of structure. Fred Stotlar, I 
think, operated it. Alex Stotlar also 
ran a store just west of it and Joe 
Vick ran a small and only drug store 
on South Park avenue. Morris Zwich 
had just recently thrown his pack of 
goods into a little shack near the Old 
Rome saloon. 

Charles E. IngraJiam operated the 
Henin News at that time and in- 
cidentally was president of the village 
board. Joe McCabe was chief of po- 
lice. 

In the spring of 1900 the Labor 
Party swept their entire ticket into 
office and voted into existence a city 
form of government with Henry Wil- 
.son, mayor. A. C. Hentz, city attorney 
a_Mr. Russel, city clerk; Ephriam 
Herrin, city treasui*er, and John C. 
Everett, police magristrate. "Hutch" 
McNeill was chosen chief of police. 
The night police, whom I shall not 
name, sei'N'ed only a .short time, as 
T had to prosecute him for stealing 
Jim Pool's chickens, and as he was 
not able to pay his fine he had to be 
incarcerated in city jail, being unable 
to serve time in jail and .sen-e the 
people at the same time as night po- 



—66— 

lice, the honorable maj'Oi' saw fit to 
discharge him. After he was releas- 
ed, he saw fit to try to take the town, 
so I saw "Hutch" and together we 
went after this would be bad actor. 
•'Hutch was loaded, and although the 
bad man had his gun pointed at 
"Hutch" and swore he would not be 
taken, yet "Hutch using more cour- 
age than judgment made him then 
and there hand over that murderous 
weapon. 

There wei'e eight saloons at that 
time functioning in Herrin. Some 
.stirring events occurred on account of 
them. Part of them were operated 
by Americans and part by Italians. 
This being a cause of race hatred, 
many time it would have only taken 
a very small spark to kindle the slum- 
bering hatred into the flames of war. 
But I am glad to note that the schools 
of the city so educated the Italian 
children that very soon they began to 
understand the American ways and 
the bitterness in a marked degree 
subsided and instead of a wild and 
woolly frontier town Herrin began to 
be more conservative. Schools and 
churches were built, and lodges or- 
ganized. A common good feeling 
mingled with religions and fraternal 
fellowship followed. 

The political side of Herrin at that 
time must not be overlooked. The 
first Republican club ever organized 
in Herrin was in the fall of 1900. 
A. C. Hentz was chairman and L. E. 
Jacobs secretary. The first Republi- 
can victory for Herrin's prairie was 
had that fall. McKinley's majority 
was 45, and Richard Yates' 46. The 
old timei's at Marion could scarcely 
believe it possible, as it formerly had 



—67— 

been the stronghold of rock ribbed 
Democracy. 

1 wisli that 1 hiul the time and that 
you had the space to jrive I would 
be delig'hted to open up memory's 
pages and write it all as I saw Herrin 
then and in my imagination see it 
over apain. The young men and 
women then are now scattered fai* 
and near; many are dead, and some 
Airgotten and all who are now living 
lire middle-aged. 

I shall always remember Herrin 
with pleasant recollections. I made 
many friends there and many of them 
are still there. 

Springfield, l/l. 



EARLY STROGGLE TO 
ESTiSBllSH FINE SYSTEM 
OP SCHOOLS IN HERRIN 

By H. T. .McKINNEY 

Former Head of the Herrin Public 

Schools 

I am much interested in your pro- 
posed "Homecoming Edition" of The 
Herrin News. I am looking forward 
with interest to learn the whereabouts 
of rhany of the former friends and 
associates of ours when I was for 
X years one of "you all."' Ah I write 
this to you, I am thinking of Herrin 
8S *the changing city of fouthciai 
Illinois. These changes as I have 
/ seen them, cover practically every 
phase of human progress. Space al- 
loted to any one of us, however, for- 
bids great details or an attempt to 
discuss more than one or two of these 
phases. I will write of a few reminis- 



—68— 

cences showing certain changes in 
school affairs. 

Being born and reared to the age 
of 16 on my parents' farm at Hudgens 
(10 or 12 miles from Herrin), 1 have 
known of Herrin's prairie all my life. 
I first heard of Herrin's schools aBoui 
the time the room was taught by Dr. 
Barney Ferrel, Sarah Davis and Dots 
D. Williams. I first knew the village 
of Herrin about 1900 when there were 
only 3 or 4 houses south of the 
Masonic temple and there was no 
north Herrin. In 1903 as a teacher 
I came to Herrin on the recommenda- 
tion of G. D. Ferrel, who succeedea 
W. A. Dixon, who was Herrin's first 
superintendent of schools. I recall 
that W. A. Stotlar was then president 
of the board and as a sideline, was 
postmaster close to Vick's drug store 
I was made teacher of the 5th and 
6th grades in the old frame building 
in the room that was honored by the 
privilege of ringing the big school 
bell. That year Miss Eleanor Crow 
w^as principal of the seventh and 
eighth grades (so-called H.S. Prin.) 
and Mr. Ferrell taught Mrs. Lell Stot- 
lar Otey and her class the Freshman 
work and Adie aBiley (Mrs Barrow) 
work a«d Adie Bailey (Mrs. Barrow) 
year work. 

The next year I was made the first 
principal of the high school as it was 
organized up to the time of the pres- 
ent organization. After sei"ving one 
year in this capacity with Mr. Ferrell 
still superintendent, I was promoted 
to the superintendency which position 
I held >for sInJ year's. Mr. Ferrell 
resigned to go West to study law. His 
salary if he had not resigned, we 
should mention, would have been 



—69— 

$1000. The board thought it a hi^h 
salary but to hold him they had de- 
cided to give it. His successor who 
had been teacher for $45 and then 
principal for $65, was advanced to 
$86 and then to $100 a month the 
second year as superintendent. The 
year I left (1911) on account of the 
town.ship high school which I had or- 
ganized and which we had conducted 
for two weeks, being knocked out, I 
had been advanced from $1100 to 
$1G00 to head the two schools. While 
ihe salaries in the Hcrrin schools are 
comparatively low, yet the figures 
given here tend to show the change 
for the better that has taken place 
in this particular. Probably no grade 
teacher now gets less than was paid 
the superintendent 17 years ago, and 
either the superintendent of the city 
schools or the principal of the town- 
ship high school last year (I do not 
iiave lafer figures) got more than 
twice as much as was paid for these 
positions combined just ten years 
previous. Is not this a change to be 
proud of? 

A long list of names including F. 
-■Vpplegath, Pope Bros., Dr F. M. 
Sanders, Dr. H. A. Berry, Dr. Lum 
Brown, Attorney R. T. Cook, Attorney 
Geo. B. White, R. A. Karr, W. A. Per- 
line, Frank Chew, Ed. Summers, 
Lloyd Walker, Geo. H. Harrison and 
others come to mind as I think of the 
tning days for board.s of education 
in the Herrin schools. Our biggest 
problem was lack of finances. John 
Herrin's faith in us often helped us 
out of the "slough of despond" when 
we had spent all our money by about 
March 1st. Mr. .A.pplegath's exper- 
ience in erecting nice appearing build- 



—70— 

ings with but little outlay, was large- 
ly responsible for our three story 
building on south side. If you want 
to expei'iment to see how much 
change has taken place in the cost 
of public buildings, just try to dupli- 
cate this building for $14,000, the 
cost at that time (1907) 

One could run on in this way and 
point out changes in all lines. As 
lates as 1911, for example, Herrin 
had no parochial schools and the high 
school only enrolled 125 while there 
were about 2100 pupils all told. We 
held school in the old Masonic hall, 
in the old frame building, in three sets 
of store buildings and ia the noitli 
side building. Today witn taxe?. 
comparatively no higher (for we ran 
the limit then) we have nice brick 
structures for all. Also, the equip- 
ment once included only children and 
seats (60 to 70 to the teacher who as 
a rule had but little education above 
8 grade). Today, practically all our 
teachers have had normal training 
and the basic number of pupils per 
teacher is something like 40 to tlie 
room. 

I am proud of the progress that has 
been made in all lines. I am likewise 
proud of the trying experiences which 
Both my wife (Norah Ferrell) w" ■< 
worked with me in the Herrin schools 
for six years, and myself had while 
making our contribution to the de- 
velopment of Herrin's most marvelous 
institution, her schools. We are now 
both p!roud of our many former pupils 
who are so numerously entwined 
among you. After leaving Herrin, 
we went to Champaign-Urbana where 
we have lived in an enjoyable atmos- 
phere and have been students again. 



—71— 

Largely as a result of Norah's inspira 
tion and help, I have held out lonp 
enough to earn three graduations 
(B. A. '13) M. A. '15) Ph. D. 21). 
We left Herrin chiefly to attain this 
goal. Besides going to school I was 
social secretary of the Illinois Discip- 
les Foundation one year at the univer- 
sity I was for four years at the head 
of the combined school system at Gib- 
son City and for the last two years I 
have held a superintendency in the 
public schools at Aurora, 111. I have 
contributed numerous ai-ticles to edu- 
cational journals and am expecting to 
send to the press at an early date a 
book on the essential work of the 
teacher. I must now acknowledge 
with gratefulness the vision of pos- 
sibilities of progress which was given 
me by a casual expression dropped 
by each of two of my dear friends 
who are now laking that long sleep to 
which we must all look. 1 refer to 
Brother F. .A.pplegath and Uncle Tom 
Stotlar. Herrin has had and still ha."* 
some wonderful opportunities and not 
the least of these, consists in know- 
ing the hopeful, helpful men an(! 
women that you are developing 
through the agency of your schools 
and churches and lodges and the 
opportunities which the business life 
of Hcn-in affords young people. 

Uncle Ruffian Harrison and Uncte 
Eph Herrin 'speak to me in memory 
as I think of my experiences among 
\ ou. I could mention with pleasure 
many more including Henry Wilson 
and wife with whom I made my home 
ancl likewise Mr. and Mrs. McCreery 
and Mr. and Mrs. White. Anyone 
connected- with the early history of 
Herrin remembers gratefully the 



—72— 

home that "took him in." Hotels even 
lo a late day, have not kept up witit 
othex" progress. 

Finally, let me mention the import- 
ant contributions made by our various 
city mayors and councils; our lead- 
ers of our own making in church af- 
fairs; and the men of vision amonj>- 
our foreign population. I recall, for 
example, what effort James ColumTso 
put forth to be the first boy of Italian 
parentage to graduate from the Her- 
rin High School. He later finished 
at the University of Illinois. Since 
that date, no doubt, the vision of the 
public schools as an institution for all 
regardlessof nativity of parents, has 
spread to dozens of homes of the var- 
ious nationalities. 

In this connection, such earTy 
teachers as Miss Stocks, Mrs. Jennie 
Lawson, Miss Hudgens,, Miss NeeTy 
and Miss Bozarth and others have 
remained in the minds of many of the 
boys and gins as among those who 
started them in school. The last 
three of these, I believe, are still on 
the job. Next to these pioneer teach- 
ers, I remember Uncle George and 
Aunt Mary Fowler whose long and 
valuable services as janitors at a very 
low wage, made my work as superin- 
tendent a pleasure during my entire 
stay in Herrin. 
Aurora, 111. 



— 7;i— 

FOUNDER OF THE NEWS 
RECALLS EARLY FRIENDS 

By C. i:. INGKAHAM 

Your Reunion issue appeals to me 
as it no doubt does to all "old tim- 
ers" who resided in Herrin when the 
nineteen liundreds were omall numbers 
The writer landed in Herrin January 
3, 1899, bringing besides a fair sized 
family, household goods, etc., a small 
"print shop" and with this outfit soon 
after launched The Herrin News. 

The "glad hand" was extended to 
us and from the very beginning a 
liberal and loyal support was given 
The News, Herrin's first paper. 

Heirin and the friends we soo^n 
made in the little town (nicknamed 
Buckhorn) are among our most cher- 
ished memories. Space could not be 
made in the Reunion issue for the 
many things the writer could recall 
that wauld probably interest many 
of your readers, both older residents 
and later comers, but inclination leads 
me to write of a number of people 
prominent in the town's affairs dur- 
ing the earlier years of our residence 
there. 

Mr. Eph Herrin was president of 
the village board when the writer 
established The Herrin News and was 
one of its most consistent suppoi'ters. 
His father, A. J. HeiTin, was still 
living and I recall him as a grand old 
man and have always been glad that 
I knew him. Mr. D. R. Harrison and 
his wife lived then in their fine coun- 
try home which still stands near Mine 
A. Mr. Harrison was a refined gen- 
tleman of the old school, and a valued 



—74— 

fnend to the writer. David Herrin, 
George Roberts, John Parsons, Mrs. 
Williams and her sons, Charles and 
Ben Pope, W. W. and D. W. Williams. 
H. F. McNeill, Abe Whitecotton, Mrs. 
Perry, the Stotlar family, the Perrines 
all of whom had resided in the com- 
munity prior to the town's building, 
were each in their different spheres, 
in church, school or business, laying 
the foundation for the now modern 
city of Herrin, with its fine churches, 
schools and business institutions. 

About 1900, a year or two before 
or within a few years after, a num- 
ber of people now prominent and well 
known in Herrin business and profes- 
sional circles became identified with 
Herrin's growth and prosperity. The 
Dawsons, C. C, D. M„ Louis, John 
and Bud, were all in business then, 
and those left today are among Her- 
rin's best known business men. The 
Elles Bros., doing business as the 
Elles Store Co., put an "add" on the 
first page of The News, No. 1, Vol .1. 
Mr. A. K. Elles, the head of Herrin's 
greatest store, whom we m.eet when 
at home, always recalls to mind the 
pleasure we had in doing business in 
the old days' with Mr. Ed and Mr. 
Albert of the Elles Store Company. 

About "now," Jo Vick, Dr. Ford, 
Bob Karr, Bob Cook, Dr. Morgan, Dr. 
Berry, Louie DeU'Ei'a, Paul Herrin 
George McArtor generally called Mc 
Carty then, as were the others by -the 
shortest and most familiar names; 
George White, Noah McNeill, John 
Marlow, Felix Merlo, A. C. Hentz, 
Jack Goalby, Abe Hicks, Chas. Spiller, 
Joe Bond, Louis Steckenrider, Albert 
(Soda) Will, Mage Anderson and H. 
P. LaMaster, John Herrin, J. Vince 



— 75— 

Walker and a whole lot iiiui>- oiu nn-y 
hea«ls became identified with the city's 
movements, business and political. 
Most of them were aldermen, mayor 
or something else that had to do with 
city affairs and generally "stepped on 
the gas" when engaged in that at- 
tractive sideline. 

Mr. Editor, sitting here in our lit- 
tle Florida home, in my "shiit 
sleeves," with the doors and windows 
open to the balmy breeze, I could go 
on writing for hours recalling the 
many warm friendships and some- 
times the rever.se, that the first editor 
of The News yet often feels pride in 
the making in the good old days when 
'some regarded Hemn as wild and 
woolly, but space forbids and I shall 
close wishing good luck, prosperity 
and happiness to all these old timers 
I have mentioned and many others 
not here named, who still reside in 
Herrin, one of the mo.st prosperous 
and progressive cities it has been my 
pleasure to know — and I have gone 
through quite a number of fine little 
cities in the pa.st ten years. Again 
best wishes to Herrin and all her peo- 
ple. 
Dania, Fla. 

FORBTiCIPAL Of 



L! 



Editor Herrin News: 

I might give you the following 
hrief history of myself if you are in- 
terested in including me in the group. 
When I left Herrin I went to Urbana 



—76— 

and spent a year at the University of 
Illinois in completing my masters de- 
gree. Then I went to Duluth, Minn., 
where I held a position for two years 
as principal of a gi'oup of schools, 
a senior high school, a junior high 
school, and elementary school, and a 
department for mentally defective 
children. 

From thei-e I went to Chicago and 
attended the University of Chicago 
and I now have the residence for my 
doctor's degree completed. ' There is 
no doubt in my mind but that I will 
c mplete my dissertation during the 
summer. From Chicago I went to 
Kirksville, Mo., as head of the de- 
partment of education and director of 
the training school in the State 
Teachers College there. At the close 
of one year I found a more desirable 
opportunity here in thq position I 
am now holding. I am here director 
of the training department and de- 
vote part of my time to teaching 
courses in education and psychology. 
I might mention also that Mrs. 
Schutte and I spent a summer term 
at Columbia University in New York 
City. We enjoy the best of health 
and are most happy in our position 
here. 

Will you kindly extend greetings to 
my friends in Herrin. Mrs. Schutte 
joins me in extending best wishes. 
Very truly yours, 

T. W. SCHUTTE, 
Director Training School. 
Mooi'head, Minn. 



OPENING NI6NT OF THE 
HEBRIN OPERA HOUSE 



By R. C. TRKLCE 

I am invited to say "Hello" to all 
the 'old timers' of Herrin in the Re 
union Edition of the News, and I sup- 
pose I atii expected to tell of some of 
my experience in the early days there. 
So 1 will bejifin as far back as pos- 
sible. I made my arrival in Herrin 
at eight o'clock on the evening of 
January 9th, 1901, having driven from 
Benton on a one horse buckboard. The 
mud at this time was about knee deep 
in the streets and the only concrete 
sidewalk in town was twenty-five feet 
in front of the Big Muddy Coal and 
Iron Company store. The rest of the 
walks were all made of black oak 
boards from Henry Wilson's sawmill, 
in the northwest pait of town. 

In those days it was customary for 
almost every one to drink beer and 
shoot off pistols, especially on pay- 
<lay, and ride "Bryan's" train on Sun- 
days. In 1903 we got the street cars 
Then some of us took to them. Once 
in awhile, to our great delight, some 
small road show would wander into 
town and settle in Bart Colombo's 
liall. The shows soon found that to 
come to Herrin was a sure cure for 
bankruptcy as we were always there 
by seven o'clock with the money for 
reserved seats, which were procure<l 
by paying the show man at the door, 
then rushing madly up the stairs to 
grab the next best chair in sight and 
fight for position. This reminds me. 
I will tell you about the opening sliow 
at the Opera House, which was com- 



—78— 

pleted early in the fall of 1904. A 
few weeks before it was finished I 
was engaged as manager, so after pro 
curing a show for October Srd I got 
the theatre all ready with the help of 
Tony Malandrone, (who was the stage 
manager) with his crew of boys. 
Electing to sell the tickets myself, 
I spent the greater part of the week 
explaining to the patrons that each 
ticket was numbered and called for a 
specified seat and that no one else 
could get that seat but the holder of 
that particular ticket; also that there 
would be no need to hurry as the 
doors would not be opened until 7:30 
and the curtain would certainly not 
go up before 8:15. I found out later 
that r was all wrong about it and 
must have been entirely misunder- 
stood, for by 6:30 on the evening of 
the show there were fully four or five 
hundred people collected before the 
entrance, all holding good tickets and 
demanding admittance. It seemed to 
me that half of them were women 
with small babies in arms. By 6:45 
they were sending delegations to pre- 
vail upon me to open the doors. 1 
held out until seven o'clock and after 
having ascertained that the ushers 
were all at their stations and that the 
manager of the troupe was at the 
head of the stairs to take the tickets 
I gave the order to open the door. 
This brought forth a loud shout from 
the crowd and resulted in a rush of 
hundreds of people, all trying to reach 
the top of those stairs at one. The 
brave show man and Bruce LaMaster, 
who was acting as head usher, made 
an effort to collect the tickets but 
soon saw that it was hopeless, as they 



—79— 

were pushed violently backward down 
the isles to the orchestra pit, where 
1 found fhem sometime later still 
gesticulating wildly. The rest of the 
ushers had all taken the count early 
and retired to some peaceful place, 
probably under the stage. Of course 
every one grabbed onto the best seat 
they could get and began to take 
stock of the surroundings which dis- 
closed the fact that no one, by any 
chance, had the seat they had barg- 
ained for. 

By this time I had been sent for 
again, and when I arrived every one 
had plenty of time to get mad. Of 
course they all wanted their seats and 
it sure took the joy out of life for 
few minutes but by making a few- 
changes we got every one to agree 
they were sati.sfied, and soon after 
we were all enjoying the show. I am 
sure this incident will be remembered 
by many of the old timers of Herrin. 
And to those who may be interested 
in what has become of me, I am liv- 
ing in Baxter Springs, Kan., a very 
nice and prosperous city in the south- 
ea.st comer of the state. I like it 
here very much. However, as the 
best years of my life were spent in 
Herrin, you may be cure 1 will never 
forget and am looking foi-ward to the 
day when I may pay Herrin a visit 
and shake hands with all my old 
friends again. In closing I will say 
that I have completely regained my 
health which was rather poor when 
I left Herrin. 



—80- 



JOi GLENN'S H[.^, 
PAWNED FOP. 



John Glenn, former deputy United 
States marshal, relates the following 
as one of the most unique experiences 
he ever had in Herrin: 

"Twenty-two years ago I lived out 
in the country and mined and farmed. 
One day I drove into Herrin in a 
buggy which had a top ov^r it. I 
stopped at the Elles store, wtiich was 
then either the only one here, or one 
of the very few. Hardly had I got- 
ten out of the buggy when a hen ap- 
peared on the seat of the vehicle and 
began to cackle after the manner of^ 
hens that have just laid eggs. I re- 
cognized her as one of my hens. She 
flew down and began to forage about 
as if she belonged in Herrin. On look 
ing under the seat of the buggy I 
found the hen had her nest there, 
with eight or nine eggs in it, and one 
just fresh laid. Several of my friends 
volunteered to help me catch the hen. 

We had cbnEiderable trouble. The 
hen sought refuge under a building 
that was there the Herrin Supply 
Company's ten cent store now is. The 
house was raised off the ground. The 
hen got under there and we had lots 
of trouble getting her out. Finally 
she was captured and we pawned her 
with Caesar Biotti for eig-ht bottles 
of beer and broke the shells of the 
eggs and poured the contents into the 
beer. Sometime after I saw Caesar 
and he told me he had killed and cook- 
ed the hen. He said she was the 
toughest fowl he had ever eaten." 



—SI- 



s 



lYl 



OF HE 



By MUS. JOHN E. WEBSTER 

Formerly Miss Laura Tygett of 
Henin. 



Kesponding to your request to con- 
tribute to your special Reunion Edi- 
tion, I can hardly number myself as 
one of the early pioneers, thus know 
of little I might say that would in- 
terest readers of your splendi(| paper. 

Being one of the younger genera- 
tions of Herrin, every body there 
knows my life as an open book, unless 
it might possibly be the last few years 
after accepting a position in the sec- 
retary of state's office at Springfield 
June 1, 1918. A that time I had no 
thought of ever leaving Herrin. So 
to the many good girls I know In 
and around Herrin who are still single 
let me say take your time, and let not 
the creeping years, or fear of being 
called an old maid startle you into ac- 
cepting the first offer of marriage. 
Take your lime and get a real man. 
vSet your ideals to the standard you 
desire in a life companion, then wait 
patiently until he comes along. Live 
a life worthy of such a man, and he 
is sure to come along in due time. 
Only those who live a worthy and use 
ful life, both before and after mar- 
liage, have a right to expect to meet 



—82— 

such a man, or to bold him aftei' they 
do meet him. 

-~ To those who may care to know- 
where I went, and what kept me from 
r. 1 urning to Herrih when leaving the 
. I ate House position, will say I took 
ii.> time and won. During my stay 
at the State House, I met the man of 
my dreams, a man who loves his home 
because I am in it, and one who has no 
bad habits, does not use tobacco in 
any form, is always at home when 
his labors are done. And we are liv- 
ing the simple but most happy life. 
We live just outside the city limits 
of Peoria, 111. Seven minute car ser- 
vice directly by our door. Our home 
consists of six room house, three lots 
90 X 152, and one lot 85 x 33. We 
have a wonderful Jersey cow, all the 
rich cream and milk we can use. We 
have sixty fine laying hens, and get- 
ting 30 to 40 eggs per day all winter 
long. 

I have everything 1 need or want 
to make me happy. It is wonderful 
fo have one's own garden, grapes and 
all the fine milk, cream and home but- 
' r and fresh eggs one can use. I 
have a 'arge hen house 35 x 29, in 
^\'hich I h3.ve 22 trap nests for my 
hens. It is wonderfully to know by 
r.ctuai record just what each hen is 
doing toward paying her way, and to 
knov/ wiiich ones to kill because they 
do not pay their board, and with re- 
liable trap nests installed, no mistakes 
are made in selections. 

If all msriied women were as hap- 
py in their homes and with their hus- 
bands as 1 am, and would make the 
same efforts to make their homes the 
one place their husband would care 
most tP be, the movies, and afternoon 



—83— 

clubs, liridge and card parties would 
soon Ko begging for want of attend- 
ance. 

1 have all the blessings of rural life 
— fresh air, song birds, home grown 
irardens and sunshine. And all the 
advantages of the city — city water, 
y-as, electric lights and car service, 
a nice home, a good husband, why 
shouldn't I be happy? 
Peoria, 111. 



mm SENDS iSSAGE 



My lirsi mtioductory to Herrin was 
in the late fall of 1912 when I called 
on Hal W. Trovillion, the editor and 
proprietor of The Herrin News, in 
reference to some special newspaper 
work. As a result of the brief in- 
terview, betAveen trains, that I had 
with "Hal" I hustled back to St. Louis 
and brought my family, consisting of 
Mrs. Lalus and our son and daughter, 
a nurse. We landed in Hei-rin the 
.Sunday before the presidental election 
How we (Mrs. Latus, Mr. Trovillion 
and I) traversed the streets of Her- 
rin that Sunday looking for quartei-s 
for the few months we were to spend 
in Horrin now one will never know. 
We finally landed a home for the 
nighi in the cosy house of the mother 
of the then Deputy Sheriff Gasaway. 
.'^he was a kind and motherly woman 
and made us feel at home. 

The next day we were fortunate to 
.•secure quarters on South Ditch street 



—84— 

with a family named Richey, where 
we remained until we left Herrin. 
The town of Herrin then was small 
but the vista was grand for the future 
We met some very fine men and 
women, who have been favored by 
their fellows such as Judge Cook, 
Lawyer Crichton, A. D. Morgan, a 
most pleasing and captivating gentle- 
man, Dr. Sanders, Dr. Boles, Dr. 
Treece, etc. 

The Gem movie theatre was one 
of the popular amusement places at 
that time. Election night was a lively 
one and the returns were flashed in 
the store room then occupied by the 
Good Luck Clothing Company. The 
crow'd came early, 90 per cent G. 0. 
P. and Bull Moose, but were home be- 
fore 11 p. m., as the returns that came 
in early indicated the election of 
Woodrow Wilson to the presidency. 

Ephraim Herrin was then active in 
business despite his advanced age and 
was at his bank every day. Joe Bond 
was the popular city clerk and also 
the efficient foreman of The News and 
mvTch of our stay in Herrin was made 
pleasant by "Joe." We always 

tliought that Herrin would thrive and 
arow, as it had a~"live editor and a 
bright newspaper in the News. To 
Mr. Trovillion, w« are under lasting 
obligations for his extreme courtesy 
and kindness to us during our stay 
in Henin. We enjoyed every minute 
of it and our close contact with the 
folks, who were kind and hospitable. 
We often speak of Herrin and our 
children the same and some day we 
will come back to Herrin to see a 
bigger and busier city. i 

To the citizens of Herrin we ex- 
tend our kindest greetings and best 



—85— 

wishes an.l know for a surety that 
The Herrin News under its present 
elticient management and control will 
eer be a guiding star for the "destin- 
ies of Herrin and its people. Every 
Herrinite and those who love Herrin 
should read The Herrin News — it has 
fought the battles of the citizens in 
the past and can be depended upon 
to stand by the Herrin people's best 
interests in the future. 

C. C. LATUS 

Secretary of the Pennsylvania As- 
sociation of the Baking Industry. 

Pittsburg, Pa., February 7, 1922. 



PLEASUHES MID SCENES 
OF EARLY HARD TOIL 



By BRUCE LaMA.STER 

A familiar sign on billboards in 
in this city, advertising one of the 
large bakeries, calls the attention of 
the public to the days when a barefoot 
boy sat on a creek bank fishing and 
eating a lunch made from slices 'of 
good rich bread. The writer can 
scarcely remember of ever having had 
the pleasure of doing much fishing 
for when I became large enough I 
had to swing a two hors« plow around 
the comet on a farm located about 
three miles east of Hemn». This was 
about the year 1889. From that time 
to the present date it has been mo.st- 
ly work, some play of course, and at 
that I consider myself more lucky 
tlian a number of my very good 



—86— 

friends who have passed to the Great 
Beyond. 

I recall very distinctly one of my 
greatest pleasures then was to saddle 
an old horse and ride over to the old 
brick store owned by Mr. D. R. Har- 
rison, which still stands in the north- 
west part of town, about twice a 
week to get the neighborhood mail 
which was carried from Cai'terville on 
horseback by a man beloved by all 
who knew him, David Hemn. 

One of the great pleasures deriv- 
ed from life on a farm those days 
was to get a wagon load of friends 
and neighbors and attend revival ser- 
vices at the Herrin Prairie Baptist 
Chutrdi which istood jujst noith of 
v/here the present swimming pool is 
now located. Prominent among the 
members of this church were D. R. 
Harrison, Abraham Whitecotton, 
David Herrin, Uncle Billy McNeill, 
George Roberts, John Parsons, Alex 
Stotlar, John Bandy, Uncle Jimmy 
Stotlar, Geo. Harrison and many oth- 
ers, also the pastoi', Brother Nolen. 

One day while sitting in the little 
old countiy school, known as the 
Bandy School, located about one mile 
east of the present city, came a bunch 
of surveyors, and the neighborhood 
for miles around became very excit- 
ed over the coming of the railroad. 
Finally it came and with it the city 
of Herrin, which was once a cornfield 
owned by Mr. Eph Herrin. 

Among the first newcomers in Her- 
rin or Buckliom, as it was commonlj'^ 
known, was "Spot" Connor from Car- 
tei'ville who opened about the second 
store in town; the first being opened 
by D. R. Harrison who had already 
located in a frame building where the 



—87— 

First National Ban know stands. Lat- 
er the Connor store was taken over 
by Alex Stotlar who became postmas- 
ter. A partnership was formed by 
H. P. LaMaster and Alex Stotlar who 
later built and occupied a frame 
building where the present Zwick 
store is now located, they occupyin^r 
the ground floor and Dr. Berry the 
loft. About that time I realized my 
life's ambition which was to move to 
town, which we did in 1899. Tho 
house we lived in then .stood where 
D. W. Dawson's furniture store now 
stands and I think it contained about 
36 windows. 

One of the most notable events in 
Herrin the early days was the coming 
of the Herrin Comet Band of which 
I was a member and as its leader a 
very able man, Horace Henry, ami 
later had as its leader Prof. Grear. 

While I am writing this little art- 
icle and think back over the many 
good times I had then, also the hard 
work( heavy on the work) it seems 
but naught compared with the diffi- 
culties I have these days, digging 
through the records of a $75,000,000 
corporation; compiling reports for 
those who want them but after all as 
we grow older our thoughts wander 
back to childhood and younger days. 

Kansas City, Mo. 



-88— 



JACK BEAM REQUIRED- 
TO PRODUCE SLEEP 



By JOE BERRA 

In the spring of 1898, I was en- 
gaged in the saloon business at Mur- 
physboro, Illinois, associated with our 
late and esteemed citizen, Louis Dell- 
'Era. While engaged in such business 
I became associated with the Mur- 
physbox'o Brewing Company, and we 
soon realized the busines prospects of 
the coal fields of Williamson county 
and particularly the new towTi of Her- 
rin. 

One bright sunshiny day in the 
spring of 1898, in company with 
Joseph Stienle, then agent for the 
Rudolph Stecher Brewing Company 
drove from Murphysboro, behind a 
big team of black horses to the then 
site upon which the city of Herrln 
is now located. Upon our arrival af- 
ter investigating the outlook we select 
ed a lot for our business purposes, 
which is now located immediately op- 
posite to the north from. the present 
Jefferson Hotel. 

Within a short time we had erected 
a one stoiy 'frame buildin?, aibo0 W) 
feet deep and 25 feet wide. We fur- 
nished the building with fixtures 
brought from Jackson county, which 
fixtures were of the old fashioned 
kind. We had two big coal oil lamps. 
I look out the first saloon license In 
the city of Herrin, in the name of 
Berra & Dell'Era. At that time 
there were twelve or fifteen houses 
erected in said community. Ther« 
was no passenger trains at that time, 
only coal trains and no telepHonet, 



—89— 

and only two small stores. I wa; 
unmarried at that time ano I obtain- 
ed board at the George Bradshaw 
Boarding House. There were ten or 
fifteen other boarders there at thar 
time. The Big Muddy Mine No. 1' 
was then in operation employiii?: 
about 100 men. 

I was the sole one in charge vl 
our business and I slept in the rear 
end of the sal-ion. I opened our place 
of business at 5 in the mornirig and 
closed at 11 P. M. My bavtend-r's 
name was Cr^esar Biotti, now c';,'!ra;~3d 
in tlie grocery and meat busines.s at 
Secser, 111. At that time I had a 
blind, gray mare to haul my supplies 
from the railroad depot. 

Many amusing incident.s hapi>ene(l 
to me while engaged in bu."iness in 
those early dayn. Most every citizen 
carried a revolver and one nigi:t I 
remember, at closing time, I had .-^ix 
or seven customers in my place. I 
said "Boys, let's go home, it is clo-^- 
ing time." One of my cu.stomers 
said, "I have no lantern to go home 
with;" it was then very dark. An- 
other customer said, "Are ycu afraid 
to go home in the dark, Willie?" 
Then Willie pulled out a 38 calibre 
revolver and laid it on the counteF and 
said, "I will never be afraid to go 
home a£ long as I have got this boy 
with me." One after the other, each 
pulled out a gun and laid it on the 
counter. The first thing I knew the 
counter was full of guns. I had never 
owned or carried a gun in my life and 
to see all tho.^e guns on the counter 
made my hair stand up straight and I 
began to perspire freely. They, how- 
ever, departed peaceably and I retired 
to my bed in the rear room. 



—90— 

I could not sleep after seeing such 
an array of artillery and had to get 
up and take a nip of Jack Beam. I 
returned again to bed and was about 
sleep when I heard the report of many 
shots. I thought the big boarding 
house was on fire, but it was only the 
boys away off having a good time 
which sti-uck me as very funny. 

There were no sidewalks or street 
lamps and we frequently got stuck 
in the mud. One night I got stuck 
in the mud crossing the street to the 
boarding house and only had one boot 
on when I got to the boarding house 
and never found the other boot. 

The town grew rapidly and in a 
short time the population was over 
a thousand and kept growing. 

In 1804 the firm of Berra & Dell- 
-Era erected the Opera House Build- 
ing which bunied January 13, 1917. 

We also constnacted the European 
K('tel on its present site, where many 
;^ocial and business events occurred. 
V«e also constructed several dwelling 
houses in the city and you could hard- 
ly imagine that the present city a.s 
it now stands is ihe gi'owth of the 
little village -of a few years ago. 

One of Ihe most important indus- 
tries that contributed to the success- 
ful deveio;"iieni of the city of Herrin, 
was The Herrin News V hich reported 
all the happenings of f^ur city to the 
outside world and caused outsiders to 
take notice of oux growing town and 
help develop our business industries. 

I am sure proud of the success of 
our little city of Herrin as it now has 
developed and I am always glad to 



—91— 

SO back to tlie place which was once 
my home and in which I have reaped 
succ«.-s and mingle wkh my friends 
and associates and renew old ac- 
• ■uaiatanres. 
Mun)l,y?boro, III. 



LIERftRY OF CONGRESS 



009 088 495 5 



